Source:  Amber Gibson, MEATINGPLACE, 6/21/11

Longer journey times and sufficient floor space in trucks allow pigs to better handle transportation stress, a recent study concluded.

The study, which the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign recently published online and in the Journal of Animal Science, confirmed that the swine industry has significantly improved pig transportation and handling in the past decade. As part of the research, initiated 10 years ago, animal scientists sought ways to improve pig transportation to better protect the animals and producers’ profits.

“On short journeys, you may superimpose the stress of unloading onto animals who haven't yet recovered from the stress of loading,” said University of Illinois professor of animal sciences Michael Ellis in the study.
"We did visual assessments of how stressed the pigs were upon arrival at the plant," he said. "They were definitely more stressed after being unloaded from shorter journeys.

With regard to floor space, the researchers found that crowding the pigs led to higher losses, but it is also possible to give the animals too much space.

“When pigs are transported, they are more likely to be thrown about if there is too much open space,” Ellis said. “If they are closer, but not too close, they can help support each other."

Ellis told Meatingplace that pigs need, on average, five square feet of space. “But it does vary depending on the weight of the pigs being shipped,” he said.

Bradley Wolter, a co-author and chief operating officer of Carlyle, Ill.-based pork producer The Maschhoffs, said working with Ellis has allowed the company to lower pig losses within the supply chain by more than one percentage unit.

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