*2.2. Unloading*

After arrival of the cattle at the slaughterhouse, the course of unloading was assessed. The unloading was scored on way of parking; unloading time in seconds; the behavior of animals on the truck and the behavior when animals were leaving the truck; the use of devices to force animals to move i.e., flags, electric cattle prods and sticks; the manner in which these devices are used i.e., gentle (soft, with a soft touch, just to persuade), intense (stronger than before, but without damaging) or rough (rude, with excessive force, causing damage); the number of people that were involved unloading the cattle and the use of hard shouts and hard sounds. Parking was considered correct if there was <5 cm difference between the trucks and the ramps edge in distance and/or sideward deviation. Behavior was scored and considered nervous if there were one or more animals vocalizing repeatedly, running, and/or jumping. The use of devices to force animals to move i.e., flags, electric cattle prods, and sticks; the way these devices are used i.e., gentle if these were used only as a touch and less than five times, intense if they were used between 5 and 10 times and rough if the devices were used more than ten times and in a hard way per load. The use of sticks usually meant handling a flag as a stick by turning it around or a stick. Shouts were considered used if a person handling the cattle used their voice loudly to urge on cattle. Sounds were assessed similarly, and these were mostly created by hitting devices against the truck.
