Principles of Animal Handling and Harvesting

Lairage

a place to rest until harvesting

Homeostasis

the ability to survive adverse environment conditions

Flight Zone

a virtual perimeter surrounding them where encroachment by perceived threats will cause the animal to react and move away

Point of Balance

an imaginary line at the animal’s shoulder that serves as a pivotal point for controlling movement

Livestock Weather Safety Index

a tool for managing heat stress in animals during transport and slaughter

Thermal Neutral Zone

55-75 degrees Farenheit

Shrink

weight or fraction of weight lost between time of loading at the production site and unloading at the destination

Fill

the contents of the digestive tract

Live Hanging

when electricity is used as a stunning method

Downer

animals not capable of moving on their own

Stun

the process of rendering animals unconscious and insensitive to pain immediately before killing

Exsanguination

bleeding; removal of all blood

Captive Bolt

resembles a firearm, propels a retractable bolt or metal shaft into the skull, rendering them unconscious

Stunning Box

a restraint device used in slaughter houses to temporarily immobilize livestock

Alt Name: Knock Box

Knock Box

a restraint device used in slaughter houses to temporarily immobilize livestock

Alt Name: Stunning Box

Sticking

severing the arteries and veins

Heart Stick

an intracardiac injection where a euthanizing agent is injected directly to the animals heart

Shoulder Stick

a specific method of exsanguination where the knife is inserted into the chest cavity

Blood Splash

a condition in slaughtered animals where tiny blood vessels rupture causing localized bleeding into muscle tissue

Blood Spots

defect in slaughtered meat caused by capillary rupture and hemorrhaeg

Blood Speckling

meat quality defect characterized by red spots/hemmorages in muscle, fat, or connective tissue

Alt Name: Ecchymosis

Kosher

process accepted by Jewish community in congruency with their beliefs

Halal

animals slaughtered in accordance with Muslim Practices

Scalding

placing an animal or bird in hot water

Singe

post-slaughter process technique used to remove hair, fur, wool from animal carcass

Slack Scald

typically a poultry slaughter technique used to loosen feathers

Alt Name: Semi-Scalding

Hard or Full Scald

Scalding at a high-temperature

Pluck

thoracic viscera removed as a single unit from the chest cavity

Evisceration

removing internal organs from the abdominal cavity

Bung

the rectum and anus of the animal

Weasand

the esophagus of the animal

Viscera

the internal organs of the animal

Pluck

the thoracic viscera

Dressed

the process of the carcass after being killed, bled, cleaning, and being prepared for butchering'; removing the inedible viscera

Giblets

the edible internal organs and miscellaneous parts removed from a bird during eviseration

Caul Fat

adipose tissue lining the abdominal cavity

Split

using a saw to cut along the midline of the carcass along the vertebral column

Steam Vacuum

systems used that combine hot water and vacuum suction to sanitize and removed visible contamination

Steam Pasteurization

a USDA-approved antimicrobial intervention that uses low-pressure steam to sanitize surface