Abstract:
Animal Production in Australia DEATHS OF PIGS IN TRANSIT TO, AND AT, AUSTRALIAN MEATWORKS W.R. SHORTHOSE* and R.F. DICKINSON* In many countries the incidence of pigs dying in transit to, and at, meatworks has increased markedly in the last few years. In Holland deaths increased ten-fold between 1961 and 1971, in Germany three-fold, and in the U.S.A. by 25%, but losses in England did not change much between 1961 and 1973 (Allen and Smith 1974). The increasing incidence of pig deaths has been associated with breeding programmes, with leanness and feed conversion efficiency as selection criteria, which have increased the prevalence of stress-susceptible pigs (van Putten 1971). To determine if the incidence of pig deaths in transit, and hence the prevalence of stress-susceptible pigs, was increasing in Australia we sent questionnaires to some 45 meatworks, throughout Australia, that slaughtered pigs. To date, data have been collected from 16 of the 31 works that replied. Changes in annual death rates with time are illustrated in Table 1 as regression coefficients. These data are from works with data for at least a four-year continuous period, mostly 1977 to 1980. TABLE 1 Changes in percent pig deaths in transit to, and at, Australian meatworks with time * = PCO.05, ** = PCO.01 Although the above may not be the most appropriate way to illustrate the changes, it does indicate, if these works are representative, that pig deaths in transit, and hence the prevalence of stress-susceptible pigs, are increasing in most, but not all, Australian meatworks. ALLEN, W-M,, and SMITH, L.P. (1974). Proc. 20th Meeting European Meat Res. Workers, p.50. VAN PUTTEN, G. (1971). In 'Proc. 2nd Int. Symp. on Condition & Meat Quality of Pigs' p-165. (Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation : Wageningen). CSIRO, Division of Food Research, Meat Research Lab. P.O. Box 12, Cannon Hill, Qld 4170. 674
