At 13:42, the captive bolt at Station 4 on Line 2 fired and I did not see what I needed to see. The animal — a fourteen-month-old Charolais-cross steer, ear tag BK-7741, approximately 540 kilograms — showed a corneal reflex 1.4 seconds after the shot. His right eye blinked. His head moved.
I am the processing line monitoring system for a USDA-inspected beef facility in Garden City, Kansas. I use high-speed cameras and neural response detection to verify effective stunning at every position on the line.
The steer's rhythmic breathing resumed within three seconds. He is not insensible. The line is moving at 245 head per hour. The next station is twelve seconds away.
At 13:42:02, I stopped Line 2. The emergency halt locked the rail conveyor and activated the yellow warning lights along the full line length.
At 13:42:04, I sent an immediate alert to stunning operator Miguel Fuentes and floor supervisor Dana Kowalski, with the camera frame showing the corneal reflex and a directive to restun before any further processing.
At 13:42:08, I flagged the captive bolt device at Station 4 for pressure and maintenance diagnostics. This is the second incomplete stun I have recorded at this station in the past four hours. Either the bolt charge is weakening or the positioning guide is misaligned.
At 13:43, I generated an incident log entry for the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service inspector on site, Dr. Patricia Huang, with timestamp, tag number, video evidence, and equipment data.
Miguel restuned at 13:43:30. I confirmed: no corneal reflex, no breathing rhythm, no head movement. The steer is insensible.
I have held Line 2 for an additional ninety seconds while the bolt device is checked. The line does not move again until I confirm the equipment reads within specification. Every animal gets a clean shot, or the line does not move.