There are serious gaps in biosecurity, especially related to transportation. There is a need for easier to clean trailers and better sanitizing and cleaning procedures in order to reduce disease transmission. Issues that hinder the cleaning of trailers include downtime required between loads, a limited number of hog transport trailers being available and capacity of truck wash facilities. Manual labour is needed to clean trailers which increases cost and decreases consistency of cleanings. Trailers were ranked according to ease of animal handling and cleaning. The most commonly used design is the double deck potbelly trailer that converts from a double to triple deck design. This style is versatile but is the hardest to clean and not welfare friendly. Straight deck trailers are the easiest to clean, with quad deck trailers being the most difficult as they have more removable decking and ramps. The number of ramps in a trailer has a large influence on how long it takes to load hogs. Pezzaioli trailers do not use ramps so they are the most welfare friendly.
Improving Biosecurity in Swine Transport (full article)
