While transporting weaner pigs is a common practice in swine production, there is very little published research on how this process impacts piglet health and welfare. To address this gap, Dr. Jennifer Brown and colleagues at the University of Guelph and University of Saskatchewan are conducting research on transport of weaner pigs under Canadian commercial conditions. Nursery pigs were transported for short (SD: <3 h) and long (LD: > 30 h) durations in summer 2019.
Differences between LD and SD transport were found, but neither treatment was identified as being better than the other. Based on physiological measures the SD piglets appeared to have a greater stress response compared to LD, likely related to SD piglets’ exposure to multiple stressors (weaning, loading and transport) with limited time to recover. The LD piglets showed greater weight change and dehydration post-transport. The LD piglets were weaned days prior to transport and had more time to habituate to conditions during transport. This could not be controlled for due to the study being based on existing commercial practices, and as such, these results raise additional questions regarding the timing of weaning and transport.
Effects of long distance transport on early-weaned pigs (full article)
