Establishing Bedding Requirements on Trailers Transporting Market Weight Pigs in Warm Weather
Simple Summary Transport is an inevitable process in the modern swine industry. Trailers transporting pigs are bedded with straw, wood shavings, corn stover, or sand. Excess bedding may detrimentally affect the micro-environment inside the trailer during warm weather and in turn negatively affect animal based measures and transport losses. These experiments aim to determine the amount of bedding that is ideal for market weight pig transport during warm weather. Abstract During warm weather, incorrect bedding levels on a trailer transporting market weight pigs may result in heat stress, fatigue, and death. Two experiments were conducted in June and July of 2011; Experiment 1 used 80 loads (n = 13,887 pigs) to determine the effects of two bedding levels (3 (68.1 kg) or 6 bags (136.2 kg) of wood shavings/trailer [each bag contained 22.7 kg, 0.2 m3]) on pig measures (surface temperature, vocalizations, slips and falls, and stress signs). Experiment 2 used 131 loads (n = 22,917 pigs) to determine the effects of bedding (3 vs. 6 bags) on transport losses (dead, sum of dead- and euthanized- on arrival; non-ambulatory, sum of fatigued and injured; total transport losses sum of dead and non-ambulatory). Bedding did not affect surface temperature, vocalizations, or slips and falls (p = 0.58, p = 0.50, and p = 0.28, respectively). However, pigs transported on 6 bags/trailer had 1.5% more stress signs than pigs transported on 3 bags/trailer (p < 0.01). No differences were observed between bedding levels for non-ambulatory, dead, or total transport losses (p = 0.10, p = 0.67, and p = 0.34, respectively). Within the context of these experiments, bedding level did not result in deleterious effects on pig measures or transport losses. However, using more bedding may result in higher costs to the industry. Therefore, 3 bags of bedding/trailer may be used when transporting market weight pigs during warm weather in the Midwestern U.S.
Impact of body truck’s microclimate on pig skin temperature during pre-slaughter logistics
Handling of pigs under hot weather conditions face a critical challenge in meeting thermal comfort and animal welfare standards. Moreover, climate variation affects production and pre-slaughter logistics. This study assesses the thermal comfort of pigs during pre-slaughter procedures under different weather conditions. The case study was conducted at two commercial pig farms in Southeastern Brazil. The bioclimatic index more accurately indicated the pigs' thermal comfort than the temperature-humidity index. The length of the transportation journey critically affected the pigs' thermal comfort, as shown by the rise in pigs' skin temperature (1.56 °C and 1.64 °C on pigs from Farm 2 and Farm 1, respectively). The pigs reached the critical upper limit of the thermoneutral zone under hot weather conditions. Adequate microclimate control during the pre-slaughter management procedures might improve pig welfare. To increase the animals' thermal comfort, both farms should reschedule their transportation to a cooler time of the day. Both farms should also improve their pre-slaughter management processes by training workers to comply with animal welfare requirements and reduce loss.
Synergistic Effect of High Temperature and High pH on the Destruction of Salmonella enteritidis and Escherichia co1i O157:H7.
This study was undertaken to determine if high temperature and high pH interact synergistically to enhance the rate of destruction of two important gram-negative foodborne pathogens, Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Salmonella enteritidis . The rates of destruction in NaHCO3-NaOH buffers at pH 7.0, 10.0, and 11.0 were determined at 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60, and 65°C. Use of an improved heating protocol eliminated a "tailing effect" at longer exposure times. The present study demonstrated that the combination of high pH and high temperature resulted in a highly significant synergistic interaction (P > F = 0.0001), which caused rapid death of both E. coli O157:H7 and S. enteritidis . This "alka-therm" technology might be used commercially to destroy gram-negative foodborne pathogens on various raw agricultural commodities.