117 Effects of floor cooling on late lactation sows under acute heat stress

Cabezón, F. A.; Schinckel, A. P.; Marchant‐Forde, Jeremy N.; Johnson, Jay S; Stwalley, Robert M.

doi:10.2527/asasmw.2017.117

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Thus, experiencing temperatures above 15–20°C, which these sows did for ~2 h on average, may have induced thermal stress (37, 38), due to the fact that pigs lack sweat glands and consequently need to thermoregulate behaviorally (39), the possibilities of which may be limited during transportation. In recent years, the sensitivity toward heat stress has received increased scientific attention in lactating (23) and pregnant (40) sows, but heat sensitivity of cull sows has not received the same attention.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examination of sow heat production shows a steady increase from farrowing to weaning (19). Recently, this knowledge has led to increased focus on the susceptibility of lactating sows to heat stress [e.g., (23–25)]. However, despite the large proportion of lactating animals among the population of cull sows, no studies have focused on their susceptibility to heat stress or examined whether cull sows, led almost directly from the farrowing barn and into the trucks transporting them to slaughter, are more vulnerable during transportation and to other stressful aspects of the pre-slaughter logistic chain.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transportation of Cull Sows—Deterioration of Clinical Condition From Departure and Until Arrival at the Slaughter Plant

2019

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Cull sows may be more vulnerable to transportation compared to other swine categories, as they are typically culled after several production cycles, and hence may be injured or weak. Until now, transportation of sows has received very little scientific attention. We aimed to investigate whether the clinical condition of the sows changed during transportation from commercial Danish farms to slaughter plants, and to initiate identification of potential risk factors for such deterioration. This observational study included 522 sows in 47 batches from 12 farms, varying according to transportation time from farm to slaughter plant. Standardized clinical examinations were conducted on-farm and on the slaughter plant. In addition, data on transportation duration, number and duration of stops, temperature during driving, and during waiting before unloading were collected. The sows' median parity was five (range 1–11) and close to 40% were lactating at the day of transportation. The mean duration of transportation was 232 ± 113 min, and the mean temperature in the trucks was 14.1 ± 5.3°C. Half of the clinical variables recorded before and after transportation changed significantly. Among these were injuries (e.g., superficial skin lesions, totally, P < 0.000; front, P < 0.001; wounds, P < 0.001; gait score, P < 0.001), and measures possibly related to heat stress (e.g. skin elasticity, P < 0.001). Three sows arrived in a condition as legally unfit for transport. The deterioration of the sows' condition was mainly related to transportation factors, such as temperature and duration—often in interaction—as well as duration of stops during the journey and while waiting before unloading. The changes in clinical condition were less dependent on the pre-transportation clinical condition of the sows, such as parity, body condition score and gait score. The results show that the clinical condition of the cull sows deteriorated from farm to slaughter plant, thereby adding data to the debate on fitness for transport of cull sows. The main risk factors were not related to characteristics of the sows, but of the journeys. Future studies should focus on identifying and distinguishing between risk factors in order to develop procedures that allow transportation of cull sows to slaughter without jeopardizing their welfare.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transportation of Cull Sows—Deterioration of Clinical Condition From Departure and Until Arrival at the Slaughter Plant

2019

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Analysis of lactation feed intakes for sows with extended lactation lengths

Cabezón

Schinckel

León

et al. 2017

Translational Animal Science

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The objectives of this research were to quantify and model daily feed intakes to 28 d of lactation in modern sows. A total of 4,512 daily feed intake (DFI) records were collected for 156 Hypor sows from February 2015 to March 2016. The mean lactation length was 27.9 ± 2.0 d. The data included 9 parity 1, 33 parity 2 and 114 parity 3+ sows. Data were collected using a computerized feeding system (Gestal Solo, JYGA Technologies, Quebec, Canada). The feeding system was used to set an upper limit to DFI for the first 7 d of lactation. Overall, the least-squares means of a model including the random effect of sow indicated that DFI's continued to slowly increase to 28 d of lactation. The DFI data were fitted to Generalized Michaelis-Menten (GMM) and polynomial functions of day of lactation (t). The GMM function [DFIi,t (kg/d) = DFI0 + (DFIA − DFI0)(t/K)C/[1 + (t/K)C]] was fitted with 2 random effects for DFI (dfiAi) and intercept (dfi0i) using the NLMIXED procedure in SAS®. The polynomial function DFIi,t (kg/d) = [B0 + B1 t + B2 t2 + B3 t3 + B4 t4] was fitted with three random effects for B0, B1, and B2 using the MIXED procedure in SAS®. Fixed effects models of the two functions had similar Akaike's Information Criteria (AIC) values and mean predicted DFI's. The polynomial function with 3 random effects provided a better fit to the data based on R2 30 (0.81 versus 0.79), AIC (14,709 versus 15,158) and RSD (1.204 versus 1.321) values than the GMM function with two random effects. The random effect for B2 in the polynomial function allowed for the fitting of the function to lactation records that had decreased DFI after 15 d of lactation. The random effects for the polynomial function were used to sort the lactation records into three groups based on the derivative of the function at 21 d of lactation. Lactation records of the three groups had similar DFI the first two weeks of lactation (P > 0.40). The three groups of sows had substantially different DFI's after 18 d of lactation (P < 0.028). The differences in both actual and predicted DFI's between the three groups increased with each day of lactation to day 28 (P < 0.001). Mixed model polynomial functions can be used to identify sows with different patterns of DFI after 15 d of lactation.

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117 Effects of floor cooling on late lactation sows under acute heat stress

Cited by 2 publications

References 0 publications

Transportation of Cull Sows—Deterioration of Clinical Condition From Departure and Until Arrival at the Slaughter Plant

Transportation of Cull Sows—Deterioration of Clinical Condition From Departure and Until Arrival at the Slaughter Plant

Analysis of lactation feed intakes for sows with extended lactation lengths

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