Effect of tipped horns on cattle bruising

Abstract

Six trials in Queensland compared the bruising of 960 cattle with untipped, tipped and no horns. In three of the trials the treatment groups were kept separate during transit to the abattoir. In the other trials all cattle were handled as the one group. Tipped and untipped cattle had similar bruising, whether sent for slaughter as separate groups or together. Thus tipping was ineffective in preventing bruising. Hornless cattle had significantly (P less than 0.05) less bruising than horned cattle when consigned as separate groups. However, this advantage was lost when hornless cattle were mixed with tipped or untipped animals.