Providing humane on-farm handling tools to move non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs

Abstract

<p>There is limited scientific knowledge in the literature that provides producers with effective handling tools for moving a non-ambulatory grow-finish pig on-farm that accounts for caretaker safety and pig welfare. Two objectives were defined to meet this goal: 1) determine durability, caretaker physiology, movement ease, overall time, and caretaker preference for sked, deer sled, modified deer sled, and wean-to-finish mat when moving 18 grow-finish pig cadavers on-farm, 2) evaluate durability, pig physiology and behavior, and overall time for the sked, revised deer sled, and ice fishing sled when moving 18 non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs on-farm.</p> <p>Observed results from these studies showed that this version of a modified wean-to-finish mat and modified deer sled is not a suitable handling tool for manually moving grow-finish pig cadavers and we suggest that it will also not be suitable for moving non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs on a commercial farm. However, this version of the sked and deer sled are suitable handling tools for manually moving grow-finish pig cadavers on a commercial farm. In addition, this version of the sked, revised deer sled and ice fishing sled are suitable handling tools for manually moving non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs on a commercial farm. In conclusion, this research team supports four handling tools for manually moving non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs on-farm.</p>