Abstract

ROMERO PENUELA, Marlyn Hellen; SANCHEZ VALENCIA, Jorge Alberto  and  HOYOS MARTINEZ, Ramiro Hernán. Factors associated with the frequency of died pigs during transport to aslaughterhouse. Ces. Med. Vet. Zootec. [online]. 2015, vol.10, n.2, pp.132-140. ISSN 1900-9607.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of transportation time, type of truck (one, two or three decks), farm of origin, time of year, transporter and producer, on the mortality of fattening pigs and the pre-slaughter stage in which the deaths occur. A retrospective study was made in a Colombian slaughterhouse during 2012, 2013 and 2014, to collect information on 76286 pigs that belonged to 1554 lots of 76 producers. The mortality/year was 0.176%, 0.173% and 0.20% respectively. The highest mortality rates were observed in trucks with one deck, particularly when the transport time was ≤1 hour. A total of 55.4% of the deaths occurred in the trucks, 41% in the slaughterhouse pens, and 4.4% during unloading. The mean mortality was higher for producers marketing smaller lots. The results indicate that transportation times ≤1 hour, truck design, and the type of producers increased the mortality during transportation of fattening pigs.

Keywords : Animal welfare; mortality; transportation losses.

        · abstract in Spanish | Portuguese     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )