THIS PROJECT FOCUSES ON IMPROVING CATTLE WELL-BEING, MEAT QUALITY AND ECONOMICS BY IDENTIFYING OPTIMAL MANAGEMENT PRACTICES TO BE IMPLEMENTED DURING THE FINAL STAGE OF THE CATTLE SUPPLY CHAIN (I.E. FROM THE FEEDLOT TO THE PROCESSING FACILITY). CATTLE WELFARE HAS BEEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF ANIMAL WELFARE RESEARCH, INDUSTRY-LED ANIMAL HANDLING PROGRAMS, AND COMPANY-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES FOR QUITE SOME TIME. THE CATTLE INDUSTRY HAS INVESTED SIGNIFICANT EFFORT INTO IMPROVING CATTLE CARE ON-FARM AND HANDLING AT THE SLAUGHTER PLANT BUT THE POTENTIALLY STRESSFUL EVENTS THAT OCCUR IN-BETWEEN (I.E. PRESLAUGHTER MARKETING PRACTICES LIKE TRANSPORTATION TO THE SLAUGHTER FACILITY AND RELATED ANIMAL HANDLING) COULD BENEFIT FROM FURTHER ANALYSIS AS THESE PRACTICES CAN HAVE A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON BOTH CATTLE WELFARE AND ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE. WE WILL ASSESS AND QUANTIFY THE EFFECTS OF PRE-SLAUGHTER MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON SELECTED WELFARE AND MEAT QUALITY OUTCOMES FOR FINISHED CATTLE. ADDITIONALLY, WE WILL ASSESS AND QUANTIFY THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF THESE WELFARE AND WELFARE-LINKED QUALITY OUTCOMES TO THE DOWNSTREAM MEAT SUPPLY CHAIN. LASTLY, WE WILL BENCHMARK CURRENT PRESLAUGHTER PRACTICES NATIONWIDE AND QUANTIFY INDUSTRY ACCEPTABILITY AND ADOPTABILITY OF MARKETING PRACTICES IDENTIFIED WITHIN OUR RESEARCH THAT ALIGN OPTIMAL CATTLE WELFARE AND ECONOMIC OUTCOMES. THE RESULTS GENERATED WILL ENABLE THE EVALUATION OF CURRENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND ULTIMATELY INFORM THE DESIGN OF NEW PRACTICES AND PROGRAMS TO PREVENT AND ALLEVIATE CATTLE STRESS DURING PRESLAUGHTER MANAGEMENT, WITH BENEFITS FOR BOTH CATTLE WELL-BEING, MEAT QUALITY AND ECONOMICS.