Effects of pre-haul management and transport duration on beef calf performance and welfare

Behavioural and physiological indicators of stress as well as growth performance, and morbidity rates were assessed in 174 steer calves (220 ± 37 kg) for 30 days after transport from ranch-to-feedlot. The calves were conditioned (C) or not (NC), and subjected to short- (2.7 h, S) or long-hauling duration (15 h, L), yielding treatments CS, CL, NCS and NCL. Upon arrival at the feedlot, calves were randomly assigned to 16 pens (four pens per treatment, one of which was equipped with a radio frequency identification system for continual monitoring of individual bunk attendance (15 calves)). As part of the NC treatment calves were also exposed to a short (2 h) transport 24 h after their initial arrival to the feedlot. All calves were fed a barley silage/barley grain-based starter ration and weighed every 7 days. Cortisol concentrations were higher in NC compared to C calves regardless of transport distance (P < 0.05). NC calves also had higher pre- and off-loading cortisol concentrations than C calves. In transit, CS steers had the lowest heart rate (HR, 67.8 bpm ±0.61; P < 0.0001). HR was highest (P < 0.05) during the first 15 min of the journey for all calves and gradually declined until 121-161 min into the trip. NC calves spent more time at the feed bunk (222.9 min day−1 versus 128.6 min day−1) in the first 2 days in the feedlot. CL calves were observed more frequently at the water than NCL calves (P < 0.05). An interaction was observed for shrinkage (P < 0.001) and ADG (P < 0.01). Shrinkage was greater in CL than in NCL steers (23.6 kg versus 14.6 kg), and in NCL than in either CS (7.8 kg) or NCS (9.2 kg) steers. The lowest (P < 0.005) ADG was recorded for CL and NCS calves (0.8 and 0.9 kg, respectively), although their DM intake (6.0 and 6.8 kg day−1) was similar (P > 0.05) to calves in the other treatment groups. Morbidity rate was 5.17% with no treatment effect. Conditioning calves prior to transport allowed calves to better tolerate the stressors of transport and handling.