LIVESTOCK TRANSPORT STRESS AND ITS MANAGEMENT

Pashu Sandesh, 13^th August 2018

Ram Narayan Patel, Ravi Prakash Pal, Ravi Soni, Pramod Kumar Soni, Rohit Kumar

INTRODUCTION

Transportation of animals is very important in domestication and management of livestock’s. In past, the mode of transportation of livestock was on foot only, but gradually other mode of transportation are also develop by rail, by road, by ship and by air rout, Out of all rail rout of transportation is the best mode of transportation for livestock. In 1607 English ship SUSAN CONSTANT first to transport animals. The first time transportation of live cattle to Chicago by rail occurred in 1867. The economic value of exported ruminant livestock worldwide growing at about 4% per year, Increase in cattle transport in last 50 years is from 4.9 to 10.4 million. Livestock are transported for various objective; For  Exhibitions, For Fair (Vauntha Fair, Pushkar Fair), For Sport competitions of sports animals like horses and dogs, For Seasonal migration due to feeding and shelter management , For Transported to slaughter house due to human feed and other things fulfilment, For Purchased animals from far distance, For Treatment purpose of diseased and injured animals.

STRESS DUE TO TRANSPORT

Stress is the response of the body to extraneous stimuli that disturb the normal physiological equilibrium or homeostasis. Transportation is considered a major stressor for farm animals and might have deleterious effects on health, well-being, performance and ultimately product quality. During transportation, animals are exposed to environmental stresses including heat stress, cold stress, humidity stress, noise stress, motion stress and social regrouping stress etc. During transportation due to dehydration, due to food deprivation, due to motion, due to physical exertion, due to fear leads to several stresses to the animals.

Various type of stress during transportation of livestock

Various Biochemical and physiological indicators also change due to transport stress

Shrinkage loss during transport stress

Body weight loss during transportation will refer as Shrinkage which express in terms of percentage (%), in different rout different percentage of shrinkage are seen in livestock.

            Route              Loss of live-weight of cattle (during 2-3 days transportation)

            On foot                         as high as 20 %,

                                                10 to 15 % normal

            Rail Route                      as high as 10 %,

                                                3 -5 % average

            Sea Route:                    7 %

Ameliorative Measures of Transportation Stress

1. Careful follow and manage all the step of transport like during loading, unloading, motion, confinement, handling etc.
2. Container design should be smooth from inner side to prevent from injury and tearing

3. Group-wise distribution of animals is very essential, stock density should not be too dense otherwise it increase the stress to animals
4. Measure losses during transport in all the steps and the step where maximum losses seen should manage very efficiently.
5. Reducing bruises by proper nourishment of animals during transport.
6. Rough handling that causes almost double the amount of bruising in cattle, so handle the animals very smoothly.
7. If, during transportation we will follow all the five law of animal welfare then we can reduce the transportation stress. These law are freedom from Hunger, thirst and mal-nutrition, freedom from Fear and distress, freedom from Physical and thermal discomfort, Freedom from Pain, injury and disease, freedom from to express normal patterns of behavior.

Food and water regimen

• Water and feed intakes during transport and after arrival in a new environment are very critical to maintenance of normal body functions. Sufficient quantity of feed and fodder should be available during transport. It was clearly demonstrated that during tranport horses spend less time in feeding. It can be useful to avoid feeding grain during travel because the risk of colic due to gut stasis. It is the usual practice of the horse transport industry to provide horses with a light laxative ration, e.g. a series of bran mashes, prior to medium- or long-haul journeys. Usually, a ration of approximately 1.5-2% of body weight of reasonable quality hay (approximately 8% crude protein) provides a maintenance ration to animals. Hay should be provided on an ad libitum basis throughout the journey, and water should be offered every 6 to 8 hours.

For cattle: Should be fasted for 6 to 12 h prior to transport. Water deprivation should not exceed for 36 h for mature stock and 24 h for lactating cows and calves of 1 to 6 Months of age. Provide feed if the duration exceed to 36 h

For Sheep and Goat: Provide water to mature and/or non-lactating sheep @ 12 h, for lactating and young ones @ 8 h Fed @ 24 h to matures and 12 h to young one

For Horse: Provide food 6 h before transport.  Provide water at 19-24 h of journey and food after 28 h

For Pig: Provide food 6 h before transport. Provide water at @ 8 h of journey and food after 24 h

For movement on foot: In cattle if water  available at every 8 km (5 miles) intervals, and facilities for grazing or  conserved forage en route not to suffer serious  shrinkage.    

Care during road transport

Careful driving is very important to reduce body weight loss and shrinkage. About 80% of the time that an animal lost its balance due to rough driving event. Do not stop on road for tea or coffee. Skill of the driver and quality of the road are important in determining transport stress and losses in carcass

Drugs use in transportion stress

Drugs use to alleviate clinical and biochemical signs of stress include: Sedatives, Dopamine, Opioids, and Benzodiazepines.

Vitamin C use in stress

Under specific environmental and physiological condition require more amount of antioxidant than form in body. Vitamin C is chain breaking antioxidant prevent free radical chain formation. A reduce live weight loss due to inhibitory role of cortisol.

Use of electrolyte in stress

Oral rehydration therapy improve acid-base balance by provide electrolyte and water. The use of oral electrolyte decrease weight loss.

Conclusions

Appropriate measuring techniques should be available to measure the stress in animals during transport. Transportation of animal should be avoided during extreme weather conditions and should be limited to short journeys and must be handled in a safe and suitable way to ensure they are free from hazards and stresses. Ameliorative measure should be taken during the transportation to prevent the stress in livestock.                                                                                                                                                                                          

Ram Narayan Patel^1*, Ravi Prakash Pal¹, Ravi Soni¹, Pramod Kumar Soni², Rohit Kumar¹

1.Ph.D.Scholar, ICAR-NDRI, 2.Ph.D. Scholar, ICAR-IVRI,

*Corresponding author: ram449192@gmail.com