Loading and unloading of pigs at transport to slaughter

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 investigated 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 studied:

• 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.

Participating researchers at the department:

Doktorand Sofia Wilhelmsson
Docent Jan Hultgren
Docent Jenny Yngvesson
Docent 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 was 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.

Publications

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.

Arbetsförhållanden vid slakttransport av grisar i Sverige. Sammanfattning av resultaten från delstudie, 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.

Webbinarium

28 maj 2021 hölls ett webbinarium om projektet, anordnat av TYA, som spelades in och som går att ta del av i efterhand.

Folder

Här går det att ladda ner en folder för professionell hantering av grisar vid slakttransport.