The Micro-Environment in Trailers Transporting Market-Weight Pigs in the Midwest during Warm Weather

The objective of this pilot study was to determine how the micro-environment trailers transporting market-weight pigs’ change during different transport events in Iowa during warm weather. This study was conducted using 4 trailer loads carrying 680 mixed sex market weight (average 128 kg) pigs from commercial finishing facilities to a commercial processing plant all in Iowa. Data loggers were placed in 4 locations inside the trailer and a fifth data logger was placed on the outside of the trailer close to the cab of the truck on the driver’s side. Events of interest were loading, transport, wait time and unloading. Data from the logger placed on the outside of the trailer was used as a covariate in the regression. PROC REG of SAS was used to calculate the R2 value for temperature and relative humidity. Density, outside temperature or relative humidity, and time (minutes) were used as covariates in the models. Graphs were produced using the predicted values from SAS. Temperature increased during all events. Relative humidity increased during loading, but decreased during all other events. During loading, temperature inside the trailer increased by \u3c 1°C and relative humidity increased by ~ 1.5 %. During transport, temperature inside the trailer increased by ~ 10 °C whereas relative humidity decreased by ~ 23 %. During wait time at the plant and unloading, temperature inside the trailer increased by ~ 9 °C. During wait time at the plant, relative humidity inside the trailer decreased by ~ 11 %. During unloading, relative humidity inside the trailer decreased by 5 % whereas temperature increased ~ 8 °C. In conclusion, during warm weather, temperature increased during all transportation events. Therefore, it is important to manage the internal trailer environment to meet the pigs’ thermal comfort zone during transportation

Scan Sampling Techniques for Behavioral Validation in Nursery Pigs

Behavioral observations are a type of “assay” that is used to quantify animal biological responses. As with physiological measurements, methods of behavioral observation should be validated and selected based on the objectives of the particular study. The objective of this study was to validate the accuracy of scan samples at various predetermined intervals for confined nursery pigs. Twenty, 35 day old, crossbred PIC (USA) nursery pigs were housed in five pens within a confinement building. Eight scan sample treatments (1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, and 60 minutes) were individually compared to continuous observation. Scan sample was defined as the first second for each scan interval (1 minute scan sample intervals provided 60 selected scans of one second duration per pig per hour). The percentage of the total time observed for each behavior and posture then calculated for each pen. Drinking differed (P = 0.0019) from the continuous data at intervals greater than 5 minutes or more. For all other behaviors and postures there were no (P \u3e 0.05) differences between scan treatments and the continuous data. In conclusion, scan samples under these experimental conditions were accurate for all behaviors and postures except drinking

To Determine the Active and Inactive Hours for Sound Sows When Housed in Individual Pens

There are currently no analgesic drugs specifically approved for pain relief in livestock by the U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Therefore, the objective of this study was to (1) identify the active hours of sound sows and (2) use this information to watch these active hours of the same sows when lame and after pain mitigation treatments. To avoid confounding injury due to aggression, twelve, clinically normal, mixed-parity, crossbred sows were purchased from a commercial producer in Iowa and housed in individual pens at Iowa State University. One 12 v black and white CCTV camera was affixed above the pen. Video was captured onto a DVR at 10 frames per second in black and white mode. Scoring of video began at 0600 and ended at 1800 and two postures (active and inactive), out of pen or unknown were collected. All behavioral data were expressed as percentages and were subjected to a square root arcsine transformation process to normalize the distribution. Transformed data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED procedure in SAS®. A P value of P ≤ 0.05 was considered to be significant. No differences were observed for out of pen (P = 0.24) or unknown (P = 0.71) for the sows. There was a difference for the time spent active (P = 0.0003) versus inactive (P = 0.0052) over the 12-h for sows. Sows were most active at 0800 (59 %) and at 1600 (66 %) which corresponded to the feeding schedule. The least active hours were 0600, 0700, and 1700 h respectively. In conclusion the critical active hours for these sows were around feeding schedules. Therefore, it is beneficial to watch from 0800 to 1659 to capture when the sows are most active in their home pen environment