Effects of driving style and bedding in pigs transported to slaughterhouse in different temperatures

Abstract

Animal welfare during transport became an largely issue because of increasing demand for improved animal welfare standards. Most studies on the animal welfare during transportation have concentrated on the atmosphere and the temperature of the truck compartments. Thus, the objective of study was to collect and quantify three axis acceleration and determine the effect of bedding for transporting pigs from farm to slaughterhouse. A total of 2,840 crossbred fattening pigs with a live weight of approximately 115 kg were used. They were raised in the same commercial farms and transported to the same commercial slaughterhouse. A 3×2×2 completely randomized factorial design was used to investigate effects of rubber type bedding (bedding or non-bedding) and two levels of driving style (aggressive or normal) in three different time periods with different outside temperatures. Air temperature treatments were as follow: high temperature ([HT] higher than 24°C); low temperature ([LT] lower than 10°C); normal temperature ([NT] 10°C to 24°C). In our experiment, pigs transported under aggressive driving style showed lower ( p < 0.05) pH and water holding capacity (WHC) than those transported under normal driving style. Pigs transported under normal driving style showed a lower percentage of drip loss (DL) ( p < 0.05) than those transported with an aggressive driving style. Also, transported with bedding showed higher ( p < 0.05) lying behavior but lower ( p < 0.05) sitting behavior than those transported without bedding. Pigs transported under normal driving style showed lower ( p < 0.05) cortisol level than those transported under aggressive driving style. In conclusion, aggressive driving style cause acute stress in pigs, while bedding helps alleviate acute stress in pigs during transportation in LT.