Pohlmans Meat Processing Plant: Non-Compliance to Humane Livestock Handling in 2024 (USDA)

313.2

On 09/03/2024, at approximately 8:35am, while performing HATS Category III- Water and Feed Availability verification, I, Dr. REDACTED (DVMO) observed the following noncompliance at establishment Pohlman Meats. There were two Beef Cows in holding pen #2 and 4 Beef Cows in holding pen #3 with no water available to them. I observed that in holding pen #2 a black rubber/plastic bucket was laying upside down in the pen with no water in it, and in pen #3 an empty rubber bucket was hanging from a hook in the corner of the pen. The empty bucket in pen #3 was hanging too high for the animals to reach, making it not accessible to the cows in the pen even if it had been filled with water. I took a regulatory control action and verbally notified the owner, Mr. REDACTED of the noncompliance. Mr. REDACTED immediately filled two rubber buckets with water and took them to the holding pens and filled the water containers and adjusted the height of the bucket in pen #3 so that it was accessible to the Beef Cows. I relinquished regulatory control upon restoration of compliance. I advised Mr. REDACTED of the regulatory requirement 9 CFR 313.2(e) which states, “Animals shall have access to water in all holding pens and, if held longer than 24 hours, access to feed. There shall be sufficient room in the holding pen for animals held overnight to lie down.”