Scientists Examine Effects of Transport on Early-Weaned Piglets

Researchers working on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc are gathering data that can be used to reduce the negative effects on young pigs of transport. As part of a Swine Innovation Porc program, Canadian researchers are examining the effects of commercial transport conditions on the health and welfare of early-weaned piglets. Dr. Jennifer Brown, a Research Scientist Ethology with the Prairie Swine Centre, says the first study looks at the effects of long and short duration transports to see what differences can be measured.

 

 

We are collecting a large number of measures on these animals and also on the conditions during transport.

These piglets, we are weighing them on farm before they're transported. We do a quick assessment of lesion scores, any obvious injuries, any lameness that we see in them. We also give a selected number of pigs on each transport trailer a heart rate monitor and a temperature monitor.

 

We also collect blood samples both before and then after transport to give us a clear indication of the physiology of the pig in a subsample of animals that are going on each transport. Then we'll use that data to evaluate if there's a greater effect in terms of the stress physiology of the animal in the short or the long transport and break it down by different sections of the transport to say whether it's the loading or the unloading or the actual duration of transport that's causing that effect.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.