This is abenchmark study to investigate slaughter cattle transportation conditions in canada. data collected included: season;temperature variation;truck ventilation ;transport conditions;lenght of time in transit;trucker training and experience hauling cattle;number of lost and whether lost were separated ;sex and whether sexes were separated on mixed loads;cattle unloading gait score; cattle handling score;cattle weight and number of dark cutters.
Information was collected on approximately 50000 animals transported by 1363 trucks. The prevalence of dark cutters (mean=2% per truckload) was highest in mixed loads,followed by heifers and steers. Mixed loads that were not separated (steers and heifers in same compartment) had a greater prevalence of dark cutters than mixed loads that were separated. The GLIMMIX procedure in SAS 9.1 was used for the analysis of the risk factors associated with dark catters.