The effects of transport on slaughter weight lambs

Abstract

It is necessary to quantify the effects of road transport on farmed livestock in order to provide a sound basis for legislation required to protect the animals. At present there is much interest in the transport of slaughter lambs as these animals tend to be transported for further, longer and in greater numbers than other, similar farmed species within the UK (Warriss et al 1990) and also because of the large numbers which are now exported. In 1993 approximately 2 million live lambs were exported from the UK, 8 per cent of UK production.There is general agreement that transport is a stressful procedure. There are a variety of parameters which can be measured to give an indication of how well the animals are coping with the process. One measure which most would agree is indicative of failure to cope is mortality. When there is an increase in mortality it is not just those which have died which are likely to have suffered, those that survive have probably had more difficulty coping. In a survey of lambs arriving for slaughter in the south of England the overall mortality rate of lambs dead on arrival or dying in the lairage before slaughter was very low, at 0.018 per cent, when compared with figures for pigs (0.07 per cent) or broilers (0.19 per cent) (Knowles et al 1994a). This, despite a generally more protracted marketing process. However, the type of marketing process was important, as those animals which were brought direct from the farm for slaughter suffered a mortality rate of 0.007 per cent whilst those which were bought from a live auction market suffered a rate of 0.03 per cent.