Abstract：
Transporting cattle from farm to slaughterhouse is often stressful for the animal, which can impair the meat quality. With the gunshot method, the animal is stunned with a rifle shot while together with familiar herd members in their home environment, exsanguinated and transported to a nearby slaughterhouse. Aiming to assess the consequences for animal welfare and food safety, 20 Hereford steers aged 18-54 months were shot with .22 Magnum ammunition from an elevated position and distance of 6-12 m. Each time, only one out of four to seven animals in a 16 × 10 m corral was shot. Dressing was done on farm. Based on the animals\' behaviour and blood concentrations of cortisol, glucose and lactate, stress levels before shooting were low. Eleven animals were deeply stunned, the consciousness of seven others was ambiguous, and two were poorly stunned. Two animals were reshot. The bleed-out was satisfactory for all animals, and little or no faecal contamination was found on the carcasses. We conclude that the gunshot method is applicable to large beef steers while maintaining a satisfactory level of animal welfare and food safety, provided that the necessary conditions can be attained.
摘要：
将牛从农场运送到屠宰场通常会给动物带来压力，这会损害肉的质量。用枪击的方法，这只动物与熟悉的牧群成员一起在他们的家庭环境中被步枪射击惊呆了，放血并运送到附近的屠宰场.旨在评估动物福利和食品安全的后果，20名年龄在18-54个月大的赫里福德舵手从6-12m的高处用.22Magnum弹药射击。每次，在16×10m的畜栏中，只有四分之一的动物被枪杀。换衣服是在农场做的。根据动物的行为和血液中皮质醇的浓度，葡萄糖和乳酸，射击前的压力水平很低。11只动物被深深地惊呆了，其他七个人的意识是模糊的，两个人惊呆了。重新拍摄了两只动物。所有动物的出血都令人满意，尸体上几乎没有发现粪便污染。我们得出的结论是，枪击方法适用于大型牛肉牛，同时保持了令人满意的动物福利和食品安全水平，只要能够达到必要的条件。
