Assessment and scoring of stresses imposed on goats during handling, loading, road transportation and unloading, and the effect of pretreatment with ascorbic acid

Abstract

The present study evaluated, weighted and scored the stresses induced by handling, loading and unloading of 60 adult Red Sokoto goats transported by road for 12 h. The calculated behavioural scores were validated with specified objective physiological indices of stress during the post-transportation period in experimental (administered ascorbic acid (AA) per os at a dose of 100 mg/kg body weight before transportation) and control (given sterile water only) goats. The behaviours of slips, falls, and jumps and time spent on each event, and the calculated behavioural points per goat during handling were significantly ( P < 0.01) higher than the corresponding values recorded during loading and unloading. Handling was the most stressful and displayed the poorest behavioural score compared to loading and unloading. In overall, 60% of handling and loading displayed scores of 1–2 points, while 12% displayed scores of 2.1–3 points and 28% displayed scores of > 3 points. Unloading was less stressful with 90% of the goats displaying the score of 1–2 points. The behavioural scores in experimental and control goats were not different ( P > 0.05). The relationships between the behavioural scores and indices of stress were positive and very significant in the control goats, which showed that the higher and poorer the behavioural points and scores recorded during handling and loading, the higher were the values of the physiological indices of stress (rectal temperature, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio and the percent liveweight loss) recorded in the post-transportation period. In AA-treated goats, the relationships were less or insignificant, and this demonstrated that AA reduced adverse effect, of the stresses imposed on the goats by the handling, loading and transportation. In conclusion, the scoring method adopted in the present study may be of value in the assessment of welfare of goats before being transported, and the risk of increase in morbidity and mortality may be reduced by adjusting transportation conditions or all together suspend the journey. If transportation is inevitable it is recommended that AA be administered to goats prior to commencement of the journey.