Differences in behaviour between sheep and cattle during slaughter.

Three fully conscious lambs, two adult sheep, five calves and one young bull were slaughtered by bilateral severance of the carotid arteries and jugular veins while standing. The calves and bull exhibited apparently coordinated body movements for much longer than the lambs and adult sheep. Other signs assumed to be associated with cerebral hypoxia, such as clonic convulsions and pupillary dilation, occurred earlier in the sheep than in the cattle. Although there is no single definitive method for assessing the onset of insensibility in animals during slaughter, it is believed that these findings support previous more objective encephalographic studies which indicated that there are clear cut differences between sheep and cattle.