Transporting Early Weaned Piglets

July 2, 2014 — 

While a piglet is being transported it will spend about 75% of its time resting and about 25% of its time being active. As the time of the trip increases so does the resting time of the piglets. This indicates the piglets are becoming fatigued. However, increasing levels of fighting as transport progresses may show that stress is enough at the start to avoid hierarchy fighting and that they become more comfortable with the transport as it progresses. 80% of the time spent after transportation was spent resting. [Source: Prairie Swine Centre E-Zine]

Drinking frequency is the greatest during the first day after transport, and the frequency increases as the transportation time increases. Piglets who have not reached weaning weight by 7 days post-weaning require individual attention to bring their productivity back up. This may be related to the fact that during transport feed is not available so they do not initiate solid feed consumption.

During the heat of summer, the hot truck trailers can increase the time to return to weaning weight (there is an increased number of “poor doers”). Piglets transported above 35°C will be exposed to a large degree of thermal stress. When temperatures are too high, piglets will be unable to show their natural thermoregulatory behaviour (meaning huddling when cold or spreading out when too hot). During the winter, there appears to be more fatigue because piglets will lie down for a higher percentage of the time.

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