Abattoir Practices and Animal Products Technology

POINTS / SITES FOR PERCUSSIVE STUNNING

• With both types of percussive stunners, care must be taken to hold the instrument reasonably firmly against the animal's head at the proper point and direction.
• In adult cattle the correct point is in the middle of the forehead where two lines taken from the medial canthus of each eye to the base of the opposite horn or horn prominence cross.
• The gun is placed at right angles to the forehead and after firing is lifted away from the falling animal.
• In calves the pistol should be placed slightly lower to the head than for adult cattle,
• while for bulls and old cows the muzzle is placed 1.5 cm to the side o the ridge running down the centre of the forehead.
• Cattle should never be shot in the poll position.
• In hornless sheep and goats the pistol is placed on the top of the head and aimed towards the gullet,
• while for horned sheep and goats the muzzle is placed behind the ridge, which runs between the horns, the direction of aim being the same.
• For bacon weight pigs the pistol is placed about 2.5 cm above the level of the eyes and fired upwards into the cranial cavity.
• In older animals captive bolt stunning is less reliable owing to the massive nature of the skulls and the large frontal sinuses of older pigs.
• The muzzle should be placed about 5 cm above the level of the eyes to the side of the ridge, which is in the mid-line of the skull, and at right angles to the frontal surface. 
• The muzzle of the pistol is placed at right angles to the frontal surface ~ 1 cm above the point where imaginary lines from eye to ear cross as the brain is in the upper part of the head.