To identify long-distance transport durations compatible with acceptable animal welfare, the aim of this study was to determine the responses of healthy sheep to road transport under good conditions for 12, 30, or 48 h. Merino ewes (n = 120; 46.9 +/- 0.39 kg) were allocated to road transport treatments of 12, 30, or 48 h, with 2 replicates per treatment. Blood and urine samples and BW were taken pretransport and at 0, 24, 48, and 72 h posttransport. Lying time was measured using data loggers. Increasing transport durations resulted in reduced (P < 0.001) BW and increased (P < 0.05) hemoconcentration, but these effects did not exceed clinically normal ranges for any transport duration, and sheep generally recovered to pretransport values within 72 h posttransport. Sheep transported for 30 and 48 h had less BW on arrival than sheep transported for 12 h (P < 0.001). There were no differences (P > 0.05) between the 12- and 30-h treatments in sheep BW at 24, 48, or 72 h after arrival. Sheep transported for 30 and 48 h had greater total plasma protein concentrations on arrival than sheep transported for 12 h (P < 0.001). Although the white cell count and neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio increased with transport, there were no consistent effects of transport duration. There were also no effects (P = 0.10) of transport duration on plasma cortisol concentrations. There were no treatment differences (P > 0.05) in lying times during the first 18 h after arrival. Sheep transported for 30 or 48 h lay down less (P < 0.05) than sheep transported for 12 h between 18 and 24 h after arrival, but there were no other differences over 72 h. These findings indicate that healthy adult sheep, transported under good conditions, can tolerate transport durations of up to 48 h without undue compromise to their welfare.

Selection for production traits with little or no emphasis on health-related traits has the potential to increase susceptibility to disease in food-producing animals. A possible genetic strategy to mitigate such effects is to include both production and health traits in the breeding objective when selecting animals. For this to occur, reliable methodologies are required to assess beneficial health traits, such as the immune capacity of animals. We describe here a methodology to assess the immune competence of beef cattle which is both practical to apply on farm and does not restrict the future sale of tested animals. The methodology also accommodates variation in prior vaccination history of cohorts of animals being tested. In the present study, the immune competence phenotype of 1,100 Angus calves was assessed during yard weaning. Genetic parameters associated with immune competence traits were estimated and associations between immune competence, temperament, and stress-coping ability traits were investigated. Results suggested that immune competence traits, related to an animal’s ability to mount both antibody and cell-mediated immune responses, are moderately heritable (h2 = 0.32 ± 0.09 and 0.27 ± 0.08, respectively) and favorably genetically correlated with the temperament trait, flight time (r = 0.63 ± 0.31 and 0.60 ± 0.29 with antibody and cell-mediated immune responses, respectively). Development of methodologies to assess the immune competence phenotype of beef cattle is a critical first step in the establishment of genetic selection strategies aimed at improving the general disease resistance of beef herds. Strategies aimed at reducing the incidence of disease in beef cattle are expected to significantly improve animal health and welfare, reduce reliance on the use of antibiotics to treat disease, and reduce disease-associated costs incurred by producers.

This series of experiments was undertaken to develop a low animal impact, inexpensive and simple method of continuous logging of body temperature in free-ranging adult cattle for periods up to 7 days. Two different types of logger (iButton and Vemco minilogger) and three different methods of attachment (surgical implant, anal girth strap and anal tail attachment) for the iButton were investigated. The technique based on the iButton temperature logger, secured to the tail head was the most effective. This technique required minimal animal handling and provided reliable and accurate measurement of temperature in freely behaving cattle.

The physical, endocrine, and metabolic responses of livestock to road transport have been evaluated by conventional hematological and biochemistry parameters for more than 20 years. However, these measures are relatively insensitive to subtle metabolic adaptations. We applied NMR-based metabonomics to assess system-wide metabolic responses as expressed in urine and serum of a large cohort of animals (n = 80) subjected to 12 and 48 h road transport. The profiling of (1)H NMR spectra revealed that the transported animals experienced altered gut and energy metabolism, muscle catabolism, and possibly a renal response. The animals transported for 48 h exhibited a deeper metabolic response to the transport event and a complex and expanded metabolic trajectory over the 72 h recovery period. Intriguingly, excretion of acyl glycines and a dicarboxylic acid was observed after transport and during recovery, implicating peroxisomal fatty acid oxidation as a metabolic response to transport-induced stress.