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CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS |
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| WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2005 | |
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IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY! REDUCING TRANSPORT RELATED STRESS |
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Dr.
A.L. SCHAEFER
Al Schaefer was born in Red Deer Alberta and spent the first 18 years of life on a family farm in Alberta. He attended the University of Alberta beginning in 1970 and obtained a Bachelor of Physical Education (1974), Bachelor of Science (Agriculture) in 1976 and a Masters of Science (Animal Science) in 1979. He attended the University of British Columbia in 1979 and obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in Animal Science in 1984. In 1984-85 he was awarded an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellowship and studied with the Growth Physiology Group at Ruakura, New Zealand. On returning to Canada in 1985 he joined the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada staff at the Lacombe Research Centre. Research interests include growth physiology and the impact of stress on animal growth, meat quality and welfare. Dr. Schaefer has also investigated the use of non-invasive stress detection methods such as infrared thermography. He has served on executive and editorial positions with the Canadian Society of Animal Science and is an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta, Edmonton. Personal interests include hockey, judo, canoeing, mountain climbing and skiing.
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Factors that Affect Stress
Dr. A. L. SCHAEFER
In conjunction
with Dr. Gordon Doonan The term stress is virtually a household word in many societies today. With respect to the transport of animals, we are concerned about transport stress because such stress can predispose animals to disease states, cause weight loss, cause a reduction in performance, reduce carcass value and a host of other ailments as well as degrade the general welfare of the animal. However, we often have an incomplete understanding of precisely what stress is, what causes stress, what factors influence the degree of stress experienced by an animal and how we might use such knowledge to manage stress when we transport animals. Elements of the concept of stress have been evident in human knowledge throughout our history. However, the use of the term per se appeared to emerge more recently over the past fifty to one hundred years largely through the efforts of scientists the likes of Cannon and Selye. In fact it was the pioneering work of Canadian researcher Hans Selye who helped move the concept of stress from one of weighing adrenal glands in rats to the more revealing demonstration of the Hypothalmic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis or HPA system, the general adaptation syndrome and the quantitative use of cortisol. Today, from the scientific perspective, stress, or the original term distress, is understood to be a considerably complex phenomenon involving not just cortisol but a host of neuro-endocrine, physiological, immune and other biological systems. Stress is now understood to be significantly affected by physical events but not just physical events. The role of psychological factors impacting the animal and the function of novelty are now known to be major determinants of the degree of stress experienced by an animal, every bit as important as a physical event per se. Hence, the management of stress in the transport of animals involves the management of factors such as food, water, rest and transport design but also the management of the animal’s mental perception of the event. Current evidence would suggest that both physical and psychological stress due to transport can be managed in animals through a judicious use of selective nutrition and endocrine factors. Some of these approaches will be discussed. [ PDF of PowerPoint Presentation ] 2259 kb |
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Terry WHITING, DVM, MSC Disease Control and Epidemiology Manitoba Agriculture and Food Veterinary Services Branch 545 University Crescent Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 5S6 Grew up on a mixed beef and hog farm near Sarnia in southwestern Ontario. Graduating from the Ontario Veterinary College in 1984 he was in mixed practice in Sarnia and returned to the University of Guelph to complete a Masters in clinical medicine in 1988, dealing with respiratory disease of performance horses. He returned to general mixed practice for two years in Ontario, and joined the Federal Civil Service in 1990 in Wynyard Saskatchewan. Working with the federal government department of agriculture from 1990 to 1998 he held the positions of district veterinarian, veterinary operations manager and disease control specialist. During this time he developed an interest in the safe and humane transportation of animals and in the evolution of farm assurance programs. Terry was on the development committee for the Canadian Agri-Food Research Council Horse Code of Practice (1998), the Transport Code of Practice (2001) and the Swine Segregated Early Weaning Amendment (2003). Terry has authorship on several peer-reviewed papers relating to animal welfare and disease control.
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Recognizing and Responding to Signs of Stress
Terry WHITING,
dvm, msc Serum and salivary concentration of cortisol, a measure of individual animal stress, is increased by the normal vehicle transport. Recognizing increased serum cortisol level from peering through the side of a commercial livestock trailer is relatively difficult. Experienced stockpersons are skilled at recognizing and responding to the distress sounds emitted by farm animals in adverse situations. No farmer would fail to notice a sow or piglet with it’s head recently trapped under a gate. One of the largest contributions to assurance of animal welfare at slaughter is the Temple Grandin slaughterhouse audit system where things which can be clearly observed by anyone are used to evaluate animal welfare. The five main slaughterhouse Critical Control Points are stunning, insensibility, animal vocalization, electric prod use and animals that have fallen down. What animal distress can truckers or “anyone” observe, once animals are restricted to the maximal comfortable loading capacity of a modern livestock trailer? Overcrowding: Overloading of trucks may be a major cause of increased stress and death losses. Severe overloading of trucks results in clear evidence of physical stress. Warriss states: At stocking densities above about 250 kg/m2 (51.2 lbs/ft2)there may not be enough room available for all the pigs to lie down, leading to continual disturbance of recumbent animals by those seeking a place to rest. A stocking density of 322 kg/m2 (65.9 lbs/ft2) leads to clear evidence of physical stress. Within this review paper there is no description on how to recognize that “physical stress” although involuntary recumbency has been described well in cattle and horses. As a trucker; if 4 hours down the road you stop for coffee and all the pigs are simultaneously recumbent and silent then your load is definitely not overcrowded. If on the other hand there is noise, scrambling and thumping in the trailer you are likely overcrowded. Vocalization in pigs is usually in response to pain or inter-pig aggression; it may be present in overcrowded trailers but probably is not a dependable measure of moderate overcrowding. Drivers should recognize the sound of ongoing pig scrambling in modern punch-out trailers as most likely a sign of overcrowding. Cold Stress: A commonly held belief is that during cold weather trucking you should pack in more pigs to generate heat. This is an error and transporters with the best quality service decrease stocking density in extreme cold and increase the volume of bedding. Frostbite increases in overloaded trailers because as you increase the loading density, animals are unable to reposition themselves in response to discomfort. If there is a cold spot in a trailer for whatever reason, if market hogs are stocked at 55 lbs/ft2 they are able to move around in response to chilling and trade places with unchilled hogs. At a high loading density of 65 lbs/ft2 individual hogs will be restrained in the cold spot by their group mates and suffer frostbite. Pigs in transit eating straw are a good indication of severe cold exposure. It is not due diligence for a trucker to replace straw eaten by pigs which are in essence eating as a behavioural response to freezing to death. Only trailers where ventilation can be adjusted from the outside should be used for long distance hauling in Canadian equivalent winters.
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[ PDF of PowerPoint Presentation ] 522 kb |
ANIMAL
TRANSPORTATION
ASSOCIATION
