Impact of group size on handling, heart rate, and time efficiency when loading trucks for market

Abstract

Poor handling manifests itself in a number of ways leading to economic losses and welfare concerns. Positive handling experience can have benefits in term of ease of handling and meat quality. Handling increases heart rates of pigs more so than does transportation. Sound stockmanship advice often includes the idea that when loading trucks, small group sizes of pigs will experience less stress than when group sizes are larger. The objective of this study was to evaluate different group sizes when simulating truck loading. Key measures were heart rate, time to move pigs, and handling difficulty. Our hypothesis was that pigs moved within small groups (around 4-5) would move with less stress and in less time than when large group sizes (8-10) were handled.