Mortality Rate of Weaned and Feeder Pigs as Affected by Ground Transport Conditions

Ground transport of pigs at early ages may result in profit-stripping incidences of mortality and compromised animal welfare due to stress stemming from unfavorable transport conditions. The objective of this study was to examine possible causative relationships of mortality rate of weaned and feeder pigs to ground transport conditions. A total of 7056 transportation records of weaned pigs (3174 records) and feeder pigs (3882 records) for the period from April 2012 to January 2014 were provided by a U.S. swine company. Effects of pig type (weaned vs. feeder pigs), ambient temperature ( 25°C or warm/hot), travel distance ( 1500 km), and the interactive effects on dead-on-arrival (DOA) rate (DOA per head loaded, %) were evaluated. The effects of the same variables on post-transport mortality of weaned pigs were also evaluated. Results show that DOA rate was affected by pig type, ambient temperature, and travel distance interactively. Weaned pig DOA rates (mean ±SE of 0.0333% ±0.0150%) tended to be higher than feeder pig DOA rates (0.0243% ±0.0110%) (p = 0.0004), and weaned pigs were more vulnerable to transport stress in warm/hot conditions. For weaned pigs, DOA rates were higher with >900 km travel distance (0.0543% ±0.0389%) than with 1200 km travel distance (0.2717% ±0.1326%) than with