Research Gives New Insight into Stress During Transport

Research being conducted by the Prairie Swine Center and the Universities of Saskatchewan and Guelph are providing new insight into the effects of stress during transport on the well being of pigs. As part of ongoing research being conducted on behalf of Swine Innovation Porc and the Agriculture Development Fund Saskatchewan, scientists are tracking and comparing the effects of stress on weaned pigs during long duration and short duration transport.

 

Dr. Yolande Seddon, an Assistant Professor of Swine Behaviour and Welfare with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare, says we know transport is a stressor so it's about understanding how our practices influence the pigs and whether or not we need to intervein.

 

 

I think those who will benefit are individuals and companies that transport pigs and I think also this information can go toward supporting recommendations for best practices about how we transport pigs and also some of it may in the end be used to support legislative regulations.

 

But essentially, I think, coming out of this work which the Swine Innovation Porc research will be going on for a few years now, there should be definitely recommendations able to come out that would result in some practical applications for how, if we need to, provide any supplementary support to pigs what might work.

 

Stresses in life happen. We know transport is a stress but what we want to guard against is stress becoming a distress.

Video: 2026 T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science - Dan Weary

T.K. Cheung Lecture in Animal Science: "Using science to assess and improve the welfare of dairy cattle"

Dan Weary is a Professor at the University of British Columbia. Dan did his BSc and MSc at McGill and Doctorate at Oxford before co-founding UBC’s Animal Welfare Program where he now co-directs this active research group. His research focuses on understanding the perspectives of animals and applying these insights to develop methods of assessing animal welfare and improving the lives of animals. His work has helped drive changes in practices (including the adoption of higher milk rations for calves and pain management for disbudding) and housing methods (including the adoption of social housing for pre-weaned calves). He also studies cow comfort and lameness, social interactions among cows, and interactions between cows, human handlers and technologies like automated millking systems that are increasingly used on farms. His presentation will outline key questions in cattle welfare, highlight recent UBC research addressing them, and showcase innovative methods for improving the lives of cattle and their caretakers.