Transport of early weaned piglets

Millions of segregated early weaned (SEW) piglets are transported each year. Problems affecting even a small percentage of these piglets may have a significant welfare impact. The Recommended Codes of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals [CARC, 2001. Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals: Transportation. CFIA, Nepean, Ontario; CARC, 2003. Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals: Pigs, Addendum Early Weaned Piglets. Canadian Pork Council, Ottawa, Ontario] recognize SEW piglets as having special requirements. However, these are not well understood. It can be assumed that SEW piglets will be affected by transport stressors similar to those affecting older pigs. In addition, weaning which coincides with transport, is likely to have additive affects, resulting in a complex of stressors affecting the early weaned piglet.Only a few studies have been conducted on transport of early weaned piglets. These studies have indicated that transport of early weaned piglets for up to 24 h is not more detrimental than early weaning with respect to early feed consumption, as both transported and control piglets lose similar body reserves and recover at the same time. However, if temperatures during transport are high (35 °C) recovery may be delayed. Following early weaning piglets lose an average of 6.9 ± 2.4% of their body weight and recover weaning weight at 3.7 ± 0.98 days. ‘Poor doers’, piglets below weaning weight at 7 days post-transport, are an important exception to these averages. While most piglets learn to feed within 2–3 days, ‘poor doers’ are still not meeting their physiological requirements after 7 days, an indication of poor welfare. Piglets transported for longer durations (12, 24 h) spend more time drinking after transport and are therefore at higher risk for dehydration than non-transported piglets. Winter transport may be an important risk factor. Air temperature in unheated trucks is often well below comfort levels. Winter transport was observed to result in more ‘poor doers’, lower ear skin surface temperatures, delayed establishment of the dominance hierarchy and increased fatigue. These findings are consistent with higher stresses during winter transport.Temperature and duration of transport have additive effects and put piglets at risk for dehydration, low feed consumption and fatigue. Every effort should be made to avoid transport at temperatures above 30 °C and to provide sufficient protection in winter. More studies of transport of early weaned piglets are required, especially complimentary studies utilizing physiological measurements.