Slaughterhouse
Timo Jaworr Fotografie | LBZ Echem 
LBZ employee Benito Weise developed the cow glasses.
GERMANY, Altenburch | Echem. Vion is the first company in the sector to implement virtual “cow glasses” to train its employees and optimise the layout of barns.
Vion installed a new cattle slaughterline at their location in Altenburg in Thuringia. The company first rebuilt all the areas which involve working with live animals. Amongst others, the barn was redesigned according to the latest animal welfare expertise. “The new barn encourages cows to move forwards independently, utilising the herd instinct of the animals,” explains veterinarian Dr. Veronika Weber, Group Quality Manager at Vion.
For the first time Vion used virtual “cow glasses” in the adjustment of the barn, a development from the Agricultural Education Centre (LBZ) in Echem in Lower Saxony. The virtual “cow glasses” software (C.O.M. Wetzlar) simulates what cows see through their eyes. What a cow sees is depicted on the screen of the glasses, and therefore enables the user to experience how animals see their surroundings.
„Cow eyes have almost 330° all-round vision, but can only see 10% of their visual field in front of them in focus. Outside of this range, their visual acuity is only 30% of the human eye. Cows also perceive contrast in much greater extremes and take longer than humans to get used to changes in brightness”, says Dr. Veronika Weber.
The purpose of using the “cow glasses” is to reduce stress and thus increase animal welfare. The fact that the virtual glasses have already helped the company to integrate animal welfare in the design and redesign of an abattoir demonstrates how Vion is leading the sector in implementing innovative technologies. This is the reason why Vion will also implement the innovative developments of the LZB in cattle abattoirs to further educate and raise awareness among its employees and animal welfare representatives.
Source: Vion
