5 Effect of rest stop on welfare indicators of conditioned and non-conditioned ranch-direct or auction-market-sourced beef cattle, transported by road

Abstract

Abstract The aim of this study was to assess the effect of an 8h rest stop after 36 h of road transport on physiological and behavioral indicators of welfare in 7–8-mo-old conditioned and non-conditioned beef calves, sourced from either a ranch or an auction market. Three hundred and twenty weaned calves (245 ± 35.7 kg BW) were randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design: conditioning, conditioned (C) or non-conditioned (N); source, ranch direct (R) or auction market (A); and rest, 0 (R0) or 8 (R8) h. After resting, animals were transported for an additional 4 h. A subset of 12 animals/treatment were sampled for non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), serum amyloid-A (SAA) and creatine kinase (CK) concentrations prior to the first loading (L1); after 36 h of transport; prior to and after the additional 4 h of transport, on the day of arrival (0); and 1, 2, 3, 5, 14, and 28 d after the 4h transport. Daily standing % and dry matter intake (DMI) were assessed for 3 d after transport. Data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS. Fixed effects included conditioning, source, and time (nested in rest), while random effects were animal and pen. At L1, mean concentrations of NEFA, SAA and CK were greater (P < 0.05) for N-R0 than C-R0 and for N-R8 than C-R8. The N and R groups had greater (P < 0.05) standing % than the C and A groups, respectively. On d 0 and 1, the C-R0 and C-R8 groups had greater (P < 0.05) DMI than the N-R0 and N-R8 groups, respectively. Overall, physiological and behavioral indicators of welfare were greater in conditioned than non-conditioned calves, while fewer differences were observed between ranch and auction market calves, as well as rested or unrested calves.