Field Trial of Factors Associated With the Presence of Dead and Non-ambulatory Pigs During Transport Across Three Colombian Slaughterhouses

Abstract

Transport by land is an essential component for the commercialization of fattening pigs and can have a negative impact on animal welfare. In slaughterhouses, the presence of dead and non-ambulatory animals is an indicator of poor welfare during transport. The objective of the study was to identify risk factors associated with the frequency of dead and non-ambulatory pigs during transport. A survey was conducted in three Colombian slaughterhouses. Data were collected from 372 batches (n = 18,437 gilts barrows) and transported directly from the farms to the slaughterhouses. Each truck was individually evaluated; a structured survey was administered to drivers, non-ambulatory and dead pigs on arrival were identified and blood samples were obtained from non-ambulatory pigs to assess physiological indicators of stress. Mortality rates per batch at arrival ranged from 0.08 to 0.17% and prevalence of non-ambulatory pigs per batch ranged from 0.84 to 1.37%.The results of the multilevel mixed effects linear regression model identified the following as risk factors associated with the frequency of total transport losses: truck speed (P = 0.04), distance (P < 0.01), transport time (P < 0.01), load size (P < 0.01) and the driver (P < 0.01) including the farm as a fixed effect. This study identified risk factors that increased the probability of total transport losses during land transport under Colombian commercial conditions. But more research that involves commercial drivers is needed to develop effective strategies to improve Colombian pig's transportation chain.

Assessment of slaughterhouse-based measures as animal welfare indicators in fattening pigs

“…The characteristics of livestock drivers in this study, namely sex (n = 22), age (46.4 ± 6.4 years), and education were similar to those in other studies conducted under commercial conditions in Mexico (Valadez-Noriega et al, 2018) and Colombia (Romero et al, 2022). The formal training and instruction of drivers in animal transportation at Latin America is not yet a common practice (Romero and Sańchez JA, 2011), usually, the drivers are hired as multipurpose drivers, with responsibilities other than the transportation of animals only 50% (n = 11) of drivers were trained in animal transportation and only 18% (n = 4) stated that they had knowledge of Colombian animal welfare-specific regulations.…”

“…Many factors have been associated with the effect of driver characteristics on animal welfare in preslaughter: these include their attitude and empathy (Leon et al, 2020), years of experience as a truck driver (Valadez-Noriega et al, 2018), driving style, education and training (Rioja-Lang et al, 2019), work pressure, and interpersonal relations background (Hemsworth PH, 2011). These characteristics of the drivers have been identified as risk factors that increased the probability of finding higher total transport losses (dead pigs and non-ambulatory pigs) (Romero et al, 2022) and with the prevalence of skin lesions in Colombia (Varoń-A ́lvarez et al, 2014). Other studies in Colombia outlined four profiles of workers in swine preslaughter: the first was composed of workers who relate to the animals and their work in a mechanical way, the second by professional workers who were emotionally close to the animals, the third by those who were committed to the animals and their work, and the fourth was composed of workers who were apathetic toward both the animals and the work activity (Pastrana-Camacho et al, 2023).…”

Pre-slaughter management in Northeast Brazil and the effects on thermophysiological indicators in pigs and pH45

“…Pre-slaughter operations comprise complex steps from farms to moments before animal slaughter in abattoirs (Faucitano, 2018). Currently, the efficiency of these operations has become a concern for the swine industry due to eminent animal welfare issues and associated production losses (Voslarova et al, 2017;Romero et al, 2022).…”

Welfare of pigs during transport

“…There are, however, also studies showing positive relationships between the occurrence of dead‐on‐arrival and journey duration (e.g. Dalla Costa et al., 2019; Romero et al., 2022).…”

“…speed) and conditions (e.g. poor roads, wind and precipitations) have been also positively associated to increased animal losses, carcass bruising, leg fractures, blood CK concentrations (indicator of fatigue) at slaughter and frequency of pale, soft and exudative meat (Dalla Costa et al., 2019; Passafaro et al., 2019; Zou et al., 2020; Driessen et al., 2020a,b; Romero et al., 2022).…”