Transportation of goats: effects on physiological stress responses and live weight loss

• Published in: Journal of animal science 2000-06, Vol.78 (6), p.1450-1457
• Main Authors: Kannan, G, Terrill, T. H, Kouakou, B, Gazal, O. S, Gelaye, S, Amoah, E. A, Samake, S
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal productions; Animals; Applied sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Blood Glucose - analysis; Blood Urea Nitrogen; Creatine Kinase - blood; Exact sciences and technology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Goat Diseases - blood; Goat Diseases - physiopathology; Goats; Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction; Hydrocortisone - blood; Leptin - blood; Road transportation and traffic; Stress; Stress, Physiological - blood; Stress, Physiological - physiopathology; Stress, Physiological - veterinary; Terrestrial animal productions; Transportation; Vertebrates; Weight; Weight Loss
• ISSN: 0021-8812; 1525-3163; 0021-8812
• DOI: 10.2527/2000.7861450x

The management of food animals prior to slaughter influences both profitability and animal well-being. This experiment was conducted as a split-unit design to determine live weight shrink and stress responses in goats due to differences in stocking density during transportation and holding. A total of 150 Spanish does were transported on two different days (replicate) and held overnight (18 h) without feed in low- (LD) or high-density (HD) groups. On each day, 75 does were transported 2.5 h with floor spaces of .18 m2 and .37 m2/animal in LD (25 does) and HD (50 does) groups, respectively. The average temperatures in the trailer during transportation were 34.6 and 35 degrees C, respectively, on d 1 and 2. All animals were blood-sampled before loading (PRELOAD) and four does from each treatment were sampled immediately after loading (POSTLOAD). Animals were blood-sampled in holding pens either at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 18 h after transportation (time) to assess the time course (n = 8 does per time per replicate) of stress responses. Individual animals were weighed just before loading onto a trailer and after overnight holding to assess shrinkage. Treatment or treatment x time did not have a significant effect on any of the dependent variables studied. There were significant effects of time (P < .01) on plasma cortisol, glucose, and urea nitrogen (PUN) concentrations. Time also had significant effects (P < .01) on plasma creatine kinase (CK) activity, differential leukocyte counts (neutrophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and eosinophils), and ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes (N:L). However, plasma leptin concentrations were not influenced by time. Cortisol concentrations increased at POSTLOAD sampling, peaked at 0 h, and decreased thereafter before spiking again at 18 h of holding. The PUN was higher at 18 h than at other time periods studied. Plasma glucose concentrations increased and remained at higher levels at 0, 1, and 2 h and began decreasing at 3 h, reaching PRELOAD levels at 18 h. Plasma CK kinase activity peaked at approximately 2 h after transportation. The N:L ratio was higher at all time periods after transportation than prior to starting the journey, indicating a prolonged effect of transportation stress on the immune system. The mean (+/- SE) shrinkage losses were 10.2 +/- .68 and 9.8 +/- .68 in HD and LD treatment groups, respectively. The results indicate that the stress responses of goats due to transportation begin decreasing within 3 h after t