Loading and unloading of pigs at transport to slaughter

Last changed: 06 May 2024

Photo: Four pigs standing and looking out from a truck, ready for the transport to the slaughterhouse.

Attitudes, driving methods and effects on pig welfare, transporter health and efficiency.

In Sweden around 2.5 million pigs per are slaughtered each year, reared at almost 900 farms. At around 6 months of age the pigs are transported on specially designed trucks to a large-scale slaughter plant. The transport company is responsible for good animal handling during loading, driving and unloading. A pilot study (Bornhede, 2014) showed that transporters worked the pigs in very different ways while loading or unloading them, and expressed worries for not carrying out the work correctly and that the work was done under strict time constraints.

Through a cross-disciplinary approach, the project will investigate factors that influence both transporters and animals. We want to show that the driving methods can be changed to improve the transporters' work situation and the animals' welfare. We study:

How normal loading and unloading of pigs at slaughter transport influence pig welfare and transporter work situation.
How different driving methods influence work efficiency and the physical work load.
If the methods used for loading and unloading improve by a short transporter training.

This is an example of research in anthrozoology, which studies the interaction between animals and man.

The project started in the autumn of 2017 and ended in the autumn of 2021.

Facts:

Participating researchers at the department

Doctoral student Sofia Wilhelmsson
Associate professor Jan Hultgren
Associate professor Jenny Yngvesson
Associate professor Maria Andersson

Collaboration

Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Lund University (assoc prof Inger Arvidsson and Dr. Camilla Dahlqvist)
Animal Welfare Science Centre, University of Melbourne, Australia (prof Paul Hemsworth)

Financing

The project is funded by a grant from the Swedish Research Council Formas (registry no. 2016-01790) and by the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science at SLU.

References

Bornhede, M., 2014. A comparison of transporters' paddle use when unloading pigs at slaughter. Graduation work, SLU, nr 527.

Pulications

Wilhelmsson S, Hemsworth PH, Andersson M, Yngvesson J, Hemsworth L, Hultgren J. 2024. Training of transport drivers improves their handling of pigs during loading for transport to slaughter. Animal 18:4.
Wilhelmsson S, Andersson M, Hemsworth PH, Yngvesson J, Hultgren J. 2023. Human-animal interactions during on-farm truck loading of finishing pigs for slaughter transport. Livestock Science, 267, 105150.
Wilhelmsson, S., Arvidsson, I., Hemsworth, P. H., Andersson, M., Yngvesson, J., & Hultgren, J. 2022. Effects of a training intervention for Swedish pig transport drivers on physical workload and time efficiency during loading. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 92, Article 103356.
Wilhelmsson, S There’s no time to rush! : pigs’ and transport drivers’ welfare and interactions during slaughter transport. Doctoral Thesis No. 2022:34.
Working conditions at slaughter transport of pigs in Sweden. Summary of the result from the study, SLU, 2021.
Wilhelmsson, S., Andersson, M., Arvidsson, I., Dahlqvist, C., Hemsworth, P.H., Yngvesson, J., Hultgren, J. 2021. Physical workload and psychosocial working conditions in Swedish pig transport drivers. International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics, 83, 103124.

Further information can be obtained from Sofia Wilhelmsson.

Contact

Head of department: Anna Wallenbeck, telephone +46 18-674504.
Deputy head of department: Anders Karlsson, telephone +46 511-67210.
Director of Postgraduate Studies: Katarina Arvidsson Segerkvist, telephone +46 511-67144.
Director of Undergraduate Studies: Lisa Lundin, telephone +46 18-671650.

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