Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T15:50:47.803Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Factors influencing the welfare and carcass and meat quality of pigs: the use of water sprays in lairage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

C. M. Weeding ,
H. J. Guise  and
R. H. C. Penny
C. M. Weeding
Affiliation:
Cambac J M A Research Limited, Unit 4, Wards Farm, Greenmore, Reading RG8 0RB
H. J. Guise
Affiliation:
Cambac J M A Research Limited, Unit 4, Wards Farm, Greenmore, Reading RG8 0RB
R. H. C. Penny
Affiliation:
Cambac J M A Research Limited, Unit 4, Wards Farm, Greenmore, Reading RG8 0RB
Get access

Abstract

Two experiments were made to study the effects of a mist or large-droplet water spray for different lengths of time, on pig behaviour in lairage prior to slaughter and on subsequent carcass Quality. Water spraying caused more pigs to stand, chew the pen walls and root around the pen floor compared with unsprayed controls, and they also tended to fight more. The sprayed pigs produced meat of superior quality in terms of m. longissimus dorsi rate of acidification and colour. It is suggested that these benefits were due to the effects of evaporative cooling and increased water intake.

Keywords

behaviourcarcass qualitylairagepigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , June 1993 , pp. 393 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Culver, A. A., Andrews, F. N., Conrad, J. H. and Noffsinger, T. L. 1960. Effectiveness of water sprays and a wallow on the cooling and growth of swine in a normal summer environment. Journal of Animal Science 19: 421–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guise, H. J. and Penny, R. H. C. 1989a. Factors influencing the welfare and carcass and meat quality of pigs. 1. The effects of stocking density in transit and the use of electric goads. Animal Production 49: 511–515.Google Scholar
Guise, H. J. and Penny, R. H. C. 1989b. Factors influencing the welfare and carcass and meat quality of pigs. 2. Mixing unfamiliar pigs. Animal Production 49: 517–521.Google Scholar
Heitman, H. and Hughes, E. H. 1949. The effects of air temperature and relative humidity on the physiological well being of swine. Journal of Animal Science 8: 171–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logtestijn, J. G. van, Corstiaensen, G. P. and Kruijf, J. M. de. 1977. Showering of slaughter pigs. Twenty-third meeting of European Meat Research Workers, Moscow, pp. 9–15.Google Scholar
Meat and Livestock Commission. 1985. Rindside damage scale. Reference 203 IM 8/85.Google Scholar
Meat and Livestock Commission. 1988. Pig carcase classification. In Pig yearbook 1988, p. 65.Google Scholar
Morrison, S. R., Bond, T. E. and Heitman, H. 1968. The physiological response of swine to wetting. Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad 45: 279–287.Google Scholar
Moss, B. W. 1978. Some observations on the activity and aggressive behaviour of pigs when penned prior to slaughter. Applied Animal Ethology 4: 323–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moss, B. W. 1980. The effects of mixing, transport and lairage on carcass characteristics in commercial bacon weight pigs. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 31: 308–315.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, S. and Castellan, N. J. 1988. Two independent samples. In Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences, p. 136. McGraw-Hill Book Company.Google Scholar
Smulders, F. J. M., Romme, A. M. C. S., Woolthuis, C. H. J., Kruijf, J. M. de, Eikelenboom, G. and Corstiaensen, G. P. 1983. Pre-stunning treatment during lairage and pork quality. In Stunning of animals for slaughter (ed. Eikelenboom, G.), proceedings of a seminar in the CEC Programme of Coordination of Research on Animal Welfare held at the Research Institute for Animal Production “Shoonoord”, Zeist, The Netherlands, 1982, pp. 90–95. Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague.Google Scholar