Transport of Pigs

The welfare of pigs during transport depends on many interacting factors, such as the condition of the animal, temperature, loading density, time in transit and other factors. Death losses during transport of pigs can vary from a low of 0.06% under good conditions to a high of 6.8% under very hot conditions. Sometimes, very short journeys are more stressful than longer journeys. During longer journeys, the pigs may have time to recover from the stress of loading before they are unloaded. Withdrawing feed the night before the day of slaughter and before transport, and keeping trucks moving to improve ventilation helps to reduce stress. The minimum space (in m2) that allows all the pigs to lie down is given by the formula 0.027 × w0.66; this equals 0.564 m2 for a 100 kg pig and 0.6708 m2 for a 130 kg pig