MANY PEOPLE inside and outside the industry misinterpret the leg movements of properly stunned animals. Both veterinarians and ranchers have mistaken reflexes for conscious animals. Properly applied captive bolt and electrical stunning will induce instantaneous unconsciousness.

When a standing animal is stunned with a captive bolt gun it should instantly drop to the floor. In cattle, the neck and legs will contract in a spasm for five to 10 seconds. Hogs will often go into violent convulsions after they are shot. This is a normal reaction indicating the animal is unconscious. Properly stunned cattle in a restrainer conveyor will have a neck spasm, and the head may remain raised for five to 10 seconds. If the spasm lasts longer the animal may be poorly stunned. Cattle stunned correctly will often pull their legs up; however, excessive kicking which makes shackling difficult may be an indication of stunning problems.

After the animal is ejected from the stunning box or restrainer it is normal for the legs to move. The neck should be limp and floppy, and eye reflexes should be absent. If the animal blinks or the eye responds to touch it may still be conscious. Rhythmic breathing and vocalizations must also be absent. If the stunned animals moan, bellow or squeal they are probably still conscious, but gasping and gagging reflexes are permissible. Neville Gregory, stunning expert from England, explains that gasping is a sign of a dying brain.

Poor gun maintenance is the number one cause of captive bolt stunning problems. Pneumatic captive bolt guns require servicing and maintenance every day. In large, high-speed plants maintenance personnel time must be dedicated to servicing stunners.

Cattle and calves should be shot in the forehead. Shooting cattle in the hollow behind the poll should be avoided -- the frontal position is more effective. In sheep, the animal should be shot on the top of the head. Sheep have a thick skull, and shooting in the forehead does not work. Hogs and sows should also be shot in the forehead.

People have been disturbed by leg movements on the bleeding conveyor. After an animal is hung upside down, the methods for determining unconsciousness are the same for both electric and captive bolt stunning. All eye reflexes and blinking must be absent. In electrically stunned animals eye reflexes should be checked 20 to 30 seconds after stunning. Prior to this time, eye reflexes will be masked by the seizure.

In both cattle and hogs, the legs will move, but this should be ignored. Instead, look at the heads -- they should hang straight down, and the necks should be floppy. The tongue should hang out and the ears droop down. Gasping and gagging reflexes are permissible, but rhythmic breathing and vocalizations must be absent. The animals must not have an arched back-righting reflex; it should hang straight down. Fully conscious cattle and hogs will arch their backs and bend their heads in an attempt to right themselves. In summary, the head should be "dead." Ignore the body.

When hogs and sheep are stunned with electricity, there is an initial spasm during which the carcass will stay still and rigid for 10 to 20 seconds. After this period, kicking will start. Hogs stunned with cardiac arrest equipment will kick less than those stunned with tongs applied to the head.

Almost all large plants use cardiac arrest equipment, and many small locker plants use head-only stunning. Cardiac arrest stunning kills the animal by stopping the heart. Head-only stunning creates a short period of unconsciousness. The animal will revive if bleeding is delayed.

With both types of stunning, sufficient current must pass through the brain to induce a grand mal epileptic seizure. Insufficient current will result in a paralyzed hog which will feel everything. For market weight hogs, a minimum of 1.25 amps is required. Hogs stunned with a lower current may remain conscious. Inducing cardiac arrest requires less current than induction of unconsciousness.

A cardiac arrest stunner that has insufficient current will cause the hog to feel heart attack symptoms. Since cardiac arrest stunning masks the grand mal epileptic seizure, hogs stunned with insufficient current will look the same as hogs stunned with adequate current. To ensure a cardiac arrest stunner is inducing consciousness, a meter must be used to test the amperage.

To pass the electrical current through the brain, one electrode must be placed either on the forehead or in the hollow behind the ear. If the electrode slides too far back on the neck, the hog will be paralyzed, but able to feel the pain. When tong type stunners are used in small plants, both electrodes must be applied to the head. Do not apply them to the neck.

Many small plants use head-only reversible stunning because they lack restraint equipment. Bleeding has to be done quickly before the animal revives. Due to slow hoists, some animals revive prior to bleeding. Plants with this problem should convert to captive bolt.