Several months ago we visited Vion cattle slaughterhouse in Tilburg, where many culled dairy cows are slaughtered. The restraint box where cattle are moved into, one at a time, to be stunned was not long enough for some of the dairy cattle to fully fit in. The back door was shutting on their hind quarters, causing some to even fall from the shock of being hit by the back door. As you can imagine, this caused not only fright but also pain, because culled cows often already have sore legs. We discussed this problem with the managers of the plant, and they admitted the genetics of the dairy cow have changed over the past 20 years since they bought their box. Holstein cows are longer and taller than they used to be. They reacted positively to our request that they buy a new, longer restraint box asap and last week they installed it.
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