Limited information is available on factors associated with piglet mortality during weaner transport events. This study aimed to identify transport characteristics associated with the occurrence of in-transit mortality or increased rates of mortality (≥1 piglet found dead on arrival) using records of weaned piglet transport events voluntarily provided by five Canadian swine companies. A total of 810 long duration (>8h to <28h) weaned piglet (4.2-7.7kg) transport events were analysed to investigate risk factors for the occurrence of in-transit mortality. Season of transport was the only significant independent variable in the final logistic regression model. The odds of a transport event having mortality occur was ~2 times greater during winter (December, January, February) compared to spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August) and fall (September, October, November). A separate dataset (755 long duration weaned piglet [4.2-7.9kg] transport events) was used to identify risk factors for increased rates of in-transit mortality. In-transit mortality rates ranged from 0.00-6.16%, with an average of 0.15%. Season of transport was again the only significant independent variable in the final model. The rate of piglet death in-transit was increased in all seasons compared to the summer with winter transport having the highest predicted rates of in-transit mortality (5x greater than summer and 3x greater than fall and spring). These results suggest that winter transport in Western Canada is an area of opportunity to reduce in-transit mortality during long duration weaned piglet transport events.
Weaned piglet mortality during long transport events is affected by season (full article)
