THE EFFECTS OF TRANSPORT STRESS ON SHEEP WELFARE
Keywords:
sheep, stress, transport, and welfareAbstract
Animal transport in vehicles, regardless of how well organized, implies a sudden
change of living conditions from the ones in the farms together with an adaptation
effort on the animals’ part which subsequently modifies the quality level of their
welfare. This fact is therefore expressed in a typical stress reaction, state to which
the animals are subject to during transport.
Research has monitored transport related stress on sheep welfare (n: 35), by
looking at their physiological responses both during transport and when destination
was reached. Along the three monitored situations, the travel time differed from 7h
to 14h and 20h, to two final destinations – a farm and a slaughterhouse. Transport
conditions were identical for journeys longer than 8h and different for the one up to
8h long. The sheep welfare physiological indicators monitored highlighted
variations of heart rate and plasmatic cortisol levels i.e. their significant increase
only at sheep loading and unloading times, regardless of the type of platform used
for this manoeuvre. Plasmatic glucose levels decreased when the travel time was
long, while urea levels showed an increase in all three cases. Bodyweight decreased
(4,9% - 7,19%) depending on the travel time and lack of fodder and water during
this time. The travel time may be considered one of the essential transport related
stress factors leading to the decrease of the sheep welfare quality level.
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