Document type: news from the IFIP website
Authors: Patrick Chevillon and Mathieu Monziols
Preview: Pigs have no sweat glands and are therefore sensitive to heat and stress. The only way for them to maintain their normal body temperature of 39°C is by releasing water vapour through respiration.
During transport: pigs need to release the heat they produce. However, a pig that has eaten too recently will digest its food during transport, affecting its welfare:
- it will not be able to evacuate the excess heat linked to its digestive processes;
- it will be insufficiently ventilated because with a full stomach during digestion the pig will have a reduced respiratory capacity. […]
- Being susceptible to motion sickness, pigs are at greater risk of vomiting during transport if they are fed too much beforehand.
At the abbatoir:
- The animals will rest better on arrival at the abattoir if they are not fed after after transport; feeding at this stage exacerbates aggressiveness when animals are mixed in with others they do not know, the dominance hierarchy has not yet been established.
- In abattoirs, if pigs are not sufficiently fasted, there is also the risk of excreting faeces [...] with the heightened risk of salmonella contamination from infected animals.
- For animal welfare reasons, some farmers are giving up castration. In order to reduce the risk of meat with boar taint, a good fasting period is recommended [...]
- If the length of fasting is reduced, this is contrary to animal welfare up to 24 hours, after which carcass weight is lost.
For IFIP, the best compromise is to target 24 hours between the last meal and slaughter, combined with a minimum of 12 hours between the last meal and the loading of the pigs. Reaching the optimum being not easy, IFP recommends to be between 22 and 26 hours of fasting between the last meal and slaughter. Pigs are then given water at the slaughterhouse during their waiting or resting phase before slaughter.
Please note: The regulations state that pigs must be fed after 24 hours of transport and pigs must be fed after 12 hours of resting time at the slaughterhouse.
