Effects of Transport Duration on Piglets Welfare

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1		Martina Zappaterra	--	2236	2023-05-22 11:36:42	\|
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This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/ani13101604

Over the years, the impact of transport duration on the welfare of piglets has been assessed through the study of its effects on mortality (dead-on-arrival, DOA) rate, behavioural and physiological responses, hunger, and dehydration/thirst.

animal welfare behaviour loading density mortality piglets stress

1. Effects on DOAs

Similarly to adult pigs, DOA rate has been used as an indicator of piglets’ welfare during transport, even if the available results do not allow the identification of hazards specifically responsible for it. Averós et al. ^[1] surveyed the factors affecting the number of weaned piglets found dead after commercial transport from different farms. Information related to 58,682 piglets during 109 journeys in different EU countries was collected at the end of each journey using questionnaires. Piglets had been weaned at 21 to 28 days of age and were transported at 85 to 100 days of age. Overall, the DOA rate was 0.07%, with dead piglets being reported in 13.8% of the loads. The duration of the journey, ranging from 0.3 to 69 h, and the mean outside temperature, ranging from 0 °C to 38 °C, showed a significant interactive effect, with a gradual increase in the predicted number of DOA with increasing journey duration and outside temperature. The provision of drinking water during the journey reduced the number of dead piglets by almost 2.5%, with an estimated mortality rate at 30 °C of about 3% in eight-hour journeys without drinking water available that dropped to about 0.15% in similar journeys where piglets were provided with drinking water ^[1]. In this study, an interactive effect on DOA rate in piglets was found between transport duration and vehicle design ^[1]. When piglets were transported for more than 8 h, mechanically ventilated vehicles exponentially decreased the risk of deaths, with an estimated reduced incidence of dead piglets (approx. 1%) compared with 24 h transports at an outside temperature of 30 °C using passively ventilated vehicles (>8%).

Based on data obtained from 78 loads of weaned piglets (79,715 piglets of approx. 6 kg), including outside and within vehicle temperature, travel distance and time, stocking density, and DOA rate by compartment, Harmon et al. ^[2] reported an effect of the interaction compartment temperature (ranging from −5 °C to 27 °C) × travel time (average of 8.51 h, ranging from 3.4 to 12.3 h) on DOA rate (0.03%, ranging from 0 to 1.11%), which increased with increasing ambient temperature and transport time. However, a difference was observed in the mortality rate among vehicle compartments during the different seasons. In particular, the mortality rate tended to be higher in winter for the piglets transported in the lower vehicle compartments. The situation reversed during the hot season, when the mortality rate tended to be higher in the upper compartments, probably due to the higher internal temperatures ^[2]. However, the authors cautioned about the meaning of these results given the very small number of mortality events, with only 10 loads out of 78 (13%) presenting dead piglets on arrival.

More recently, Golightly et al. ^[3] failed to find an association between mortality rate (0.06%) in weaned piglets undergoing shorter or longer duration (<3 h and >30 h, respectively) commercial transport in the summer.

Based on the published research, it therefore appears evident that the DOA rate is mainly determined by the conditions under which piglets are transported more than the duration of the journey. In particular, high ambient temperatures (e.g., 30 °C) associated with the unavailability of drinking water during transport and the use of passively ventilated vehicles appears to be a major contributor to the increased DOA rate in piglets.

2. Effects on Behavioural and Physiological Response

Lewis and Berry ^[4] have examined the effects of the season (summer, fall and winter) on the behaviour of early-weaned piglets during and immediately after transports of different duration (0 or control, 6 h, 12 h, or 24 h) and carried out without supplemental heat (in winter), feed and water. Overall, in transit piglets spent more time lying than standing (75.6 vs. 21.6% of the time). As transport time increased, the percentage of time piglets spent standing significantly decreased, while lying time increased. Resting behaviour, in terms of lying in lateral or sternal recumbency, whether asleep or awake, during transport increased with transport time from 59.8% (1–12 h) to 91.5% (13–24 h), while standing behavior decreased from 36% (first 12 h period) to 7.4% (second 12 h period). The authors speculated that the increased lying behaviour may have been associated with either fatigue or huddling behaviour. The latter assumption may be justified by the fact that this pattern was more defined in winter and fall implying cold as a causal factor. Furthermore, sitting behaviour was more common during the first 12 h of transport (2.8 %) than during the second 12 h of transport (0.3%). Fighting behaviour was infrequent during the first 6 h of transport, but increased significantly in summer compared with winter, which may indicate that the establishment of the dominance hierarchy may have been reduced or halted in the colder transport environment. In this study, it was also shown as an effect of transport itself on piglet fatigue on arrival at the farm, with higher levels of post-transport resting in transported (81.4%) compared to non-transported (control) piglets (77.5%). Such effect was exacerbated by the time in transit as the percentage of time spent resting on the day following the arrival increased after 6 h (80.2%), 12 h (82.2%) or 24 h (81.9%) of transport when compared to control piglets (77.5%).

Magnani et al. ^[5] examined the effects of long transport (14 h) and ambient temperature and humidity conditions on behaviour and blood parameters of post-weaned piglets (8–12 kg liveweight, approx. 35 days of age). The journey time was divided into three periods of about 4 h each. Similar to Lewis and Berry ^[4], resting (lying on the belly or in the lateral position with or without head movements) increased with transport duration and, in particular, during the last period of the journey. The increased resting behaviour over time can be considered an indicator of the progressive habituation of piglets to the transport environment. However, this adaptation was not observed in the weaned piglets transported at THI > 72, which rather tended to keep a standing position during the journey, probably in an attempt to dissipate more body heat ^[5].

Garcia et al. ^[6] compared unweaned piglets (control) with piglets undergoing weaning (two groups, with and without water and feed for 32 h) and newly weaned piglets transported for 32 h with or without the provision of feed and water. Piglet behaviour was recorded for all treatment groups during transport and 24 h after transport. During the 32 h journey, weaned piglets transported with or without the provision of feed and water spent 77% and 81% of their time lying, respectively, while the control group only spent 65% of their time lying. Untransported weaned piglets provided or not provided with feed and water spent 81% and 87% of their time in the lying posture, respectively. Immediately after transport, newly weaned piglets transported without access to feed and water spent less time lying (20%) compared to weaned piglets that were not transported with free access to feed and water (79% of those piglets were lying) ^[6]. Overall, the results of this study showed that transportation and weaning have a negative effect on behavior of pigs, especially when feed and water are not provided during transport ^[6]^[7].

Both short and long transport duration have an impact on the physiological response of piglets to transportation. Averós et al. ^[8] studied the effect of journey duration (0.6 vs. 8.3 h) on stress levels as assessed by the analysis of blood creatine kinase (CK) and lacto-dehydrogenase (LDH) activities, both indicators of physical fatigue, in 136 weaned piglets transported from a nursery to a growing-finishing farm. In this study, blood CK and LDH activities increased, particularly after the short journeys. Similar results after transport were recorded by Golightly et al. ^[3] who found that piglets transported for a shorter duration (<3 vs. >30 h) presented increased blood CK levels, although the values were within the normal physiological range for pigs, and greater serum cortisol and N:L ratios.

In a more recent study, Golightly et al. ^[9], when comparing two different weaning managements associated with transports of two different durations without food and water, observed that the group of piglets weaned 6 days before being transported for a long time (30 h) were hungrier and thirstier on arrival and lay down less in the pen during the first two post-transport days. In contrast, the other group composed of pigs weaned immediately before short transports (<3 h) lay down more upon arrival at the farm, but also showed more severe ear and body lesions, likely resulting from more intense episodes of aggression. This latter result might have been biased by the different handling of piglets on arrival at the farm, with piglets transported for shorter time being mixed in larger groups (25 pigs) than the other transport group, which was instead housed in smaller group pens (mostly 15 pigs each). There is evidence that fighting rate is greater in larger than smaller groups in pigs ^[10]. In addition, pigs subjected to short transport showed a lower growth rate during the first two post-transport days when compared to the group of pigs transported for longer time. Besides post-transport fighting activity, this effect could be due to the effect of short transport, whether combined or not with weaning stress. A number of studies showed the effects of shorter transportation on the fatigue condition of piglets on arrival at the farm due to lack of time to recover from the stress of handling at loading and settle and rest completely in the truck ^[4]^[8]^[11].

The effects of longer journeys on blood parameters in piglets are not clear, ranging from no effect on blood CK and N:L ratios after 14 and 32 h, respectively ^[5]^[6], to greater blood CK activity in female piglets transported with the provision of feed and water for 32 h ^[6].

3. Effects on Hunger

According to the EU Regulation 1/2005, piglets must be provided with only water during the road journey ^[12]. The fasting period before loading should be carefully planned in relation to the expected length of the journey, to avoid hunger, weight loss, and death ^[1]^[5]^[12]. The recommended fasting period for piglets before transport is 5 h ^[13]. However, this recommendation should be validated scientifically, as longer fasting periods (up to a maximum of 20/24 h) seem to decrease the risk of DOA in piglets ^[1].

Berry and Lewis ^[14] ran two simulated transport trials to study the effects of journey duration (0 h or control, 6 h, 12 h, and 24 h) and ambient temperature (20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C) on the post-transport performance of early-weaned piglets. The interaction transport duration × temperature affected liveweight variation during the first 24 h after transport, with piglets either transported for 24 h at high transport temperatures (30 °C and 35 °C) or for 6 h at 20 °C and 35 °C presenting the greatest weight loss in comparison with control groups. Such effects were still present up to 7 days post-transport, indicating the difficulty of young animals to recover from transport stress.

Other Canadian transport studies reported (1) greater weight loss and slower post-transport weight recovery after 20 min transport compared with 6 h transport, likely resulting from a reduced motivation to feed and drink following transport ^[15], (2) 7.1% weight loss after 24 h of transport with weight loss increasing with increasing transit time ^[16] and (3) lower body weight on arrival after >30 h compared with <3 h transport (5.6 vs. 6.2 kg), but this difference disappeared after 3–4 days (6.6 vs. 6.3 kg; ^[3]).

Piglets transported for 32 h without access to feed and water have been reported to lose more body weight (approx. −9%) compared to non-transported piglets with feed and water access ^[6]. In a similar study, Garcia et al. ^[7] reported no significant losses in body weight of piglets transported up to 24 h, independently from the availability of feed and water. However, when the journey was extended to 32 h, piglets transported without feed and water or only with feed lost more weight compared to non-transported control piglets and piglets provided with feed and water or only water (−7.4 and −7.5% and −5.7 and −5.5%, respectively).

Information concerning the variation of blood indicators of hunger in weaned piglets during transport is scarce. Studying the effect of short (0.6 h) and long (8.3 h) journey duration on weaned piglets, Averós et al. ^[8] found a significant decrease in serum glucose concentrations in pigs transported for 8.3 h vs. 0.6 h. Magnani et al. ^[5] also reported increased blood urea levels as a result of the prolonged fasting in weaned piglets transported for 14 h.

Although feed withdrawal for more than 6 h is associated with decreased blood glucose levels and increased blood free fatty acids (FFA) and urea concentrations, a fasting period prior to transport is highly recommended to decrease the risk of DOA in piglets ^[1]. Furthermore, the reported results suggest that water withdrawal has a greater effect on weight loss and risk of DOA than feed withdrawal in transported piglets.

4. Effects on Thirst and Dehydration

The EU Regulation 1/2005 clearly states that pigs may be transported for a maximum period of 24 h, provided they have continuous access to water ^[12] to prevent thirst and dehydration. Thirst is expressed by increased visits to the drinker, drinking bouts, water intake, and reduced latency to drink after a period of water deprivation. There is no evidence of piglets drinking during transports (14 h; ^[5]) but increased drinking behaviour in early-weaned piglets after 24 h transport has been reported ^[4]^[16].

Elevated total plasma protein and albumin concentrations and hematocrit levels are indicators of dehydration as a result of transport and the associated feed and water deprivation ^[17]. In most studies, increased blood levels of total plasma protein, albumin and/or hematocrit percentage have been reported after long journeys (from 8.3 to >30 h; ^[3]^[8]^[14]). However, other studies either reported increased blood total plasma protein and albumin concentrations in weaned pigs after a short journey (60 min; ^[18]) or slight to no variation in blood hematocrit percentage and albumin in weaned piglets transported for 14 and 32 h, respectively, regardless of whether water and feed were provided ^[5]^[6].

References

Averós, X.; Knowles, T.G.; Brown, S.N.; Warriss, P.D.; Gosálvez, L.F. Factors affecting the mortality of weaned piglets during commercial transport between farms. Vet. Rec. 2010, 167, 815–819.
Harmon, J.; Hoff, S.; Baas, T.; Zhao, Y.; Xin, H.; Follett, L. Evaluation of conditions during weaned pig transport. Appl. Eng. Agric. 2017, 33, 901–912.
Golightly, H.R.; Brown, J.; Bergeron, R.; Poljak, Z.; Roy, R.C.; Seddon, Y.M.; O’Sullivan, T.L. Physiological response of weaned piglets to two transport durations observed in a Canadian commercial setting. J. Anim. Sci. 2021, 99, skab311.
Lewis, N.J.; Berry, R.J. Effects of season on the behaviour of early-weaned piglets during and immediately following transport. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 2006, 100, 182–192.
Magnani, D.; Cafazzo, S.; Calà, P.; Razzuoli, E.; Amadori, M.; Bernardini, D.; Gerardi, G.; Costa, L.N. Effect of long transport and environmental conditions on behaviour and blood parameters of postweaned piglets with different reactivity to backtest. Livest. Sci. 2014, 162, 201–208.
Garcia, A.; Pirner, G.; Picinin, G.; May, M.; Guay, K.; Backus, B.; Sutherland, M.; McGlone, J. Effect of provision of feed and water during transport on the welfare of weaned pigs. Animals 2015, 5, 407–425.
Garcia, A.; Sutherland, M.; Pirner, G.; Picinin, G.; May, M.; Backus, B.; McGlone, J. Impact of providing feed and/or water on performance, physiology, and behavior of weaned pigs during a 32-h transport. Animals 2016, 6, 31.
Averós, X.; Herranz, A.; Sánchez, R.; Gosálvez, L.F. Effect of the duration of commercial journeys between rearing farms and growing–finishing farms on the physiological stress response of weaned piglets. Livest. Sci. 2009, 122, 339–344.
Golightly, H.R.; Brown, J.; Bergeron, R.; Poljak, Z.; Seddon, Y.M.; O’Sullivan, T.L. Impact of two commercial weaning and transport strategies on piglet behaviour, body weight change, lesions and lameness following transport. Appl. Anim. Behav. Sci. 2022, 257, 105775.
Rabaste, C.; Faucitano, L.; Saucier, L.; Foury, D.; Mormède, P.; Correa, J.A.; Giguère, A.; Bergeron, R. The effects of handling and group size on welfare of pigs in lairage and its influence on stomach weight, carcass microbial contamination and meat quality variation. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 2007, 87, 3–12.
Faucitano, L.; Goumon, S. Transport of Pigs to Slaughter and Associated Handling. In Advances in Pig Welfare; Spinka, M., Ed.; Woodhead Publishing: Cambridge, UK, 2018; pp. 261–293. ISBN 978-0-08-101012-9.
European Union. Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2005 of 22 December 2004 on the Protection of Animals during Transport and Related Operations and Amending Directives 64/432/EEC and 93/119/EC and Regulation (EC) No 1255/97; European Union: Brussels, Belgium, 2004; Annex I, Chapter I.
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Berry, R.J.; Lewis, N.J. The effect of duration and temperature of simulated transport on the performance of early-weaned piglets. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 2001, 81, 199–204.
Wamnes, S.; Lewis, N.J.; Berry, R.J. The performance of early-weaned piglets following transport: Effect of season and weaning weight. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 2006, 86, 337–343.
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Martina Zappaterra

Luigi Faucitano

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Update Date: 23 May 2023

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