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- Title
Impact of animal management and transportation factors on transport losses in market weight pigs at the packing plant.
- Authors
Ritter, M. J.; Ellis, M.; Bertelsen, C. R.; Bowman, R.; Brinkmann, J.; DeDecker, J. M.; Mendoza, O.; Murphy, C. M.; Peterson, B. A.; Rojo, A.; Schlipf, J. M.; Wolter, B. F.
- Abstract
Two studies were carried out to evaluate the effect of animal management and transport factors on transport losses. Study 1 used 35 trailer loads of pigs in a split-split-plot design with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments: 1) time off-feed prior to loading (0 vs. 24 h) and 2) transport floor space (0.39 vs. 0.46 vs. 0.54 m2/pig). Study 2 used 37 loads in a split-plot design with a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement of treatments: 1) mixing during transport (unmixed vs. mixed) and 2) transport floor space (0.39 vs. 0.46 vs. 0.54 m2/pig). Pigs from the same farm were transported in either February-March or August-September. Floor space treatments were compared in the front three compartments on each deck of the same design of straight, double-deck trailers. Pigs were loaded using standard commercial procedures and were transported ~140 km to a commercial packing plant. Data for transport losses were not normally distributed, were transformed using the Rank procedure of SAS, and were analyzed using PROC Mixed. Time off-feed and mixing during transport had no effect on transport losses. Therefore, data from studies 1 and 2 were combined to evaluate the effects of transport floor space on transport losses. The combined data showed that transporting pigs at 0.39 m2/pig compared to 0.46 and 0.54 m2/pig increased (P < 0.05) non-ambulatory pigs (0.39 vs. 0.12 vs. 0.14 ± 0.09%, respectively), but did not affect deads on arrival or non-ambulatory, injured pigs at the plant. Floor space effects on the incidence of non-ambulatory, non-injured pigs and total losses at the plant varied depending on the time of year. For loads transported in February-March, there was no effect of floor space, however, for loads in August-September, pigs with 0.39 m2/pig had higher (P < 0.05) incidences of non-ambulatory, non-injured pigs (0.38 vs. 0.00 vs. 0.00 ± 0.08%, respectively) and total losses (0.72 vs. 0.16 vs. 0.00 ± 0.13%, respectively) than pigs with 0.46 and 0.54 m2/pig. These results confirm that floor space on the trailer has a major impact on transport losses, but suggest that the effect is dependent upon transport conditions.
- Subjects
SWINE; WEIGHT loss; TRANSPORTATION management
- Publication
Journal of Animal Science, 2006, Vol 84, p302
- ISSN
0021-8812
- Publication type
Article