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Temple Grandin
Assistant Professor
Department of Animal Sciences
Colarado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA
There are increasing problems in the U.S. with very excitable pigs which are difficult to handle at the slaughter plant. These pigs have been bred for rapid weight gain and leanness, but they often have very high levels of PSE. Quiet, gentle handling in a high speed pork slaughter plant is almost impossible. Observations in fourteen slaughter plants in the US, Canada, Australia, and Germany indicate that these pigs have behavioral traits which make handling difficult, such as:
The incidence of very excitable pigs in the U.S. varies from 5% in the midwest to 30% on the east coast. High numbers of excitable pigs in the U.S. are on large farms which fatten hybrid pigs which have been genetically selected for rapid growth. However, some of the worst groups of excitable pigs were observed in Canada and Australia. Observations in a Danish slaughter plant indicated that most pigs were calm and excitability was seldom a problem. Excessive excitability is caused by a combination of environmental and genetic factors. A barren environment in the fattening pens will make pigs more difficult to load onto a transport vehicle (Warris et al.). Providing pigs with rubber hose toys to play with will reduce excitability (Grandin et al.). Research with other species has shown that a barren environment which restricts sensory input makes animals more excitable and easier to startle. Puppies kept in barren kennels became more reactive to stimulation (Melzack 1969) Trimming the whiskers of baby rats causes the areas of the brain that receive sensory input to become more excitable (Simons and Land, 1987). The nervous system needs a certain amount of stimulation to function normally. Playing a radio in the fattening barn will reduce excessive startle reactions to strange sounds.
Providing increased environmental stimulation will reduce excitability, but genetics is a major cause of excessive excitability.
Hybrid pigs from commercial breeding companies in the US are often bred from a Hampshire type boar line and a Yorkshire x Landrace-type sow line. The offspring are often very excitable. The exact composition of the pigs is unknown because it is a trade secret. Observations on both farms and in slaughter plants indicate that pigs which have some Duroc genetics were calmer. When one large farm replaced Hampshire boars with Duroc boars, both excitability and PSE decreased. The Hampshire breed can have a high incidence of poor quality meat (Hampshire effect) even when they are Halothane negative (Monin and Sellier, 1985). The significant effect of genetics could be seen by observing different breeds of pigs on the same farm. On one farm, Yorkshire x Landrace sows startled more easily than white hybrid sows that had some Duroc blood. One must be careful not be become too critical of a particular breed. Breed characteristics can vary greatly, depending on genetic selection. In a German plant, there was a definite difference in temperament between German Landrace and Dutch Landrace. The heavily muscled German Landrace were more excitable. Observations in all the plants indicated that there is a tendency for selection for leanness to increase excitability.
There are two possible solutions to this increasing meat quality and welfare problem:
Ninety percent of the handling problems associated with excitable pigs occur in the single file race and in the crowd pen which leads up to the single file race. Handling would be greatly improved if a group of five to ten pigs could be driven into a small pen that then descended into the gas.
There has been controversy about the humaneness of CO2 stunning. Dutch research indicated that the excitation phase which occurs during CO2 stunning starts prior to the onset of unconsciousness (Hoenderken et al., 1979)
This research raised the question that pigs may be distressed during the induction of CO2 anesthesia. More recent research (Forslid, 1987) indicated that unconsciousness occurred prior to the onset of the excitation phase, therefore, CO2 is definitely humane. The differences in the results between these two studies may be due to genetic factors. All of the research conducted by Anders Forslid at the Swedish Meat Research Institute has been on Yorkshire pigs (Forslid personal communication, 1991). Other studies have shown that there is large variation in pig reaction to CO2 (Dodman, 1977, Grandin, 1988). Observations by the author in a commercial slaughter plant indicated that white crossbred pigs with Yorkshire confirmation had a much milder reaction to CO2 than crossbred pigs with Hampshire breed coloration. Many of the Hampshire-type pigs started to react in the first few seconds after they contacted the gas. The animals were stunned in a Wernberg Compact plant. Crossbred pigs with Hampshire coloration rode quietly in the gondola until they contacted the gas. They attempted to rear up to avoid the gas while they were fully conscious.
Experiments with Pietrain x German Landrace pigs indicated that Halothane positive pigs had a more vigorous reaction to CO2 than Halothane negative pigs (Troeger and Woltersdorf, 1991). The reaction started about 20 seconds after the animals contacted the gas. These pigs had little or no reaction during initial contact with the gas. Seventy percent of the Halothane positive pigs had strong motoric reactions and only 29% of the Halothane negative pigs reacted in this manner. The researchers are concerned that reactions in Halothane positive animals may possibly be of animal welfare concern. The use of high CO2 concentrations of 80% or greater reduced the incidence of vigorous reactions.
An earlier German study with unspecified pig genetics indicated that the animals were anesthetized before the excitation phase (Ring, 1988). It is likely that some Halothane positive pigs were tested. Further studies with both Halothane positive and negative Hampshire pigs are still needed.
Human beings also vary in their reaction to CO2. People who have panic attacks which have a strong genetic basis will react very badly to CO2. The gas may induce panic attacks in these people (Griez, 1990). Neville Gregory from the Meat Research Institute in England reviewed a number of studies, (Lambooy, 1990) which indicated that most people find the smell of the gas to be pungent when it is breathed at a concentration of 50%. Years ago, CO2 was used in psychiatric therapy. Patients breathed a mixture of 30% CO2 and 70% oxygen until they became unconscious (Clark, 1954). One patient loved the treatment and some others disliked it. Twenty to fifty breaths were required to induce unconsciousness.
There is a need for more research and measurement of recordings from the brain. Forslid has proved that CO2 is a humane method of stunning for the Yorkshire breed, but the same kind of careful measurements need to be done on different breeds of pigs. It is especially important to test the Hampshire breed. Both Halothane positive and Halothane negative animals should be tested. Until further research is conducted, one can conclude that CO2 may be humane for certain genetic types of pigs and stressful to others. In order for CO2 to be completely acceptable from a humane standpoint, pigs may need to be genetically selected for a good reaction to CO2.
The pork industry needs to address problems caused by genetic over selection for a single trait. Both PSE meat and excitability have increased when pigs are selected for leanness and rapid growth. Breeders also need to select pigs for low levels of PSE and a calm temperament. I hypothesize that the genetic lines of pigs which become highly excited during handling may possibly be the same genetic types which will react badly to CO2. The worst problems with excitable pigs and high PSE occur in countries where the marketing system allows the pork producers to pass PSE losses on to the slaughter plant.
References
Clark, 1954, Journal Mental Science 100:72-726
Dodman, 1977, British Vet Journal 133: 71; and Grandin, 1988, International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, pp.96-97
Forslid, 1987, Acta Physiol. Scand. 130:1-10
Grandin et al., 1986, Journal of Animal Science (Suppl. 1) 64:161
Grandin, 1991, International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, Paper 2:8, pp.249-251
Griez, 1990, American Journal of Psychiatry 147:796-797
Hoenderken et al., 1979, Fleischwirtschaft 59:1572-1578
Lambooy, 1990, Fleischwirtschaft 4:10-18
Melzack, 1969, Annals New York Academy of Science 159:721-730
Monin and Sellier, 1985, Meat Science 13:49-63
Ring, 1988, International Congress of Meat Science and Technology 98-100
Simons and Land, 1987, Nature 326:694-697
Troeger and Woltersdorf, 1991, Fleischwirtschaft 4:43-49
Warris et al, 1983, Meat Science 9:271-279
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