Weaned piglet mortality during long transport events is affected by season
Limited information is available on factors associated with piglet mortality during weaner transport events. This study aimed to identify transport characteristics associated with the occurrence of in-transit mortality or increased rates of mortality (≥1 piglet found dead on arrival) using records of weaned piglet transport events voluntarily provided by five Canadian swine companies. A total of 810 long duration (>8h to <28h) weaned piglet (4.2-7.7kg) transport events were analysed to investigate risk factors for the occurrence of in-transit mortality. Season of transport was the only significant independent variable in the final logistic regression model. The odds of a transport event having mortality occur was ~2 times greater during winter (December, January, February) compared to spring (March, April, May), summer (June, July, August) and fall (September, October, November). A separate dataset (755 long duration weaned piglet [4.2-7.9kg] transport events) was used to identify risk factors for increased rates of in-transit mortality. In-transit mortality rates ranged from 0.00-6.16%, with an average of 0.15%. Season of transport was again the only significant independent variable in the final model. The rate of piglet death in-transit was increased in all seasons compared to the summer with winter transport having the highest predicted rates of in-transit mortality (5x greater than summer and 3x greater than fall and spring). These results suggest that winter transport in Western Canada is an area of opportunity to reduce in-transit mortality during long duration weaned piglet transport events.
Weaned piglet mortality during long transport events is affected by season (full article)
