Key result
Acute heart failure from preexisting cardiac lesions drives in-transit mortality in market pigs.
Why the study?
The low proportion of in-transit losses in market-weight pigs suggests individual pig factors may influence mortality beyond environmental or transport factors.
Observational (n=85)
No
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
In-transit losses (ITL) of market-weight pigs are defined as pigs that die or pigs that become nonambulatory during loading and shipping from the farm to the abattoir. The low proportion of ITL in market pigs implies that individual pig factors may influence ITL, in addition to commonly considered environmental or transport factors. Postmortem examinations of in-transit-loss pigs ( = 85) from 1 Ontario, Canada, abattoir indicated the cause of death to be acute heart failure as a result of cardiac lesions that developed prior to transport. The presence of preexisting cardiac lesions may explain why no or only a few pigs die in a trailer even when the entire load is exposed to extreme temperatures and other common transport risk factors.
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Zurbrigg et al. (2017) conducted an observational in In-transit loss (death or nonambulatory during transport) (n=85). Preexisting cardiac lesions was evaluated on Cause of death. Postmortem examinations of 85 in-transit-loss market pigs revealed the cause of death to be acute heart failure resulting from preexisting cardiac lesions.
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