The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses
In practice, unfamiliar pigs are frequently mixed prior to loading in order to obtain groups of uniform weight and to adjust the group size to the dimensions of the trailer compartments. Mixing pigs induces aggressive interactions to establish a new social rank. Fighting results in skin lesions and...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2020-03-01
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| Series: | Animals |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/4/544 |
| _version_ | 1818519336133853184 |
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| author | Bert Driessen Sanne Van Beirendonck Johan Buyse |
| author_facet | Bert Driessen Sanne Van Beirendonck Johan Buyse |
| author_sort | Bert Driessen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In practice, unfamiliar pigs are frequently mixed prior to loading in order to obtain groups of uniform weight and to adjust the group size to the dimensions of the trailer compartments. Mixing pigs induces aggressive interactions to establish a new social rank. Fighting results in skin lesions and pre-slaughter stress and, in turn, reduced meat quality. A study was performed to compare the effect of non-regrouping and regrouping at fattening (at 80 kg and kept till slaughter), loading and lairage. A total of 1332 pigs were included over 30 transports from one pig farm to one slaughterhouse (110 km). Skin lesions were determined on 1314 carcasses. Meat quality was measured on 620 pigs. The non-regrouped pigs had fewer skin lesions and better meat quality than the pigs regrouped at loading or in lairage. Pigs mixed at 80 kg at the farm had, in general, a comparable amount of skin lesions and comparable meat quality as the non-mixed group. If mixing is unavoidable, due to large within-group weight variations, mixing at 80 kg can be an alternative to reduce skin lesions at slaughter and to optimise meat quality. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-11T01:22:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4a5699de8c7c44e4b360152a20c4f551 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2076-2615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-11T01:22:55Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animals |
| spelling | doaj.art-4a5699de8c7c44e4b360152a20c4f5512022-12-22T01:25:39ZengMDPI AGAnimals2076-26152020-03-0110454410.3390/ani10040544ani10040544The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig CarcassesBert Driessen0Sanne Van Beirendonck1Johan Buyse2Research Group Animal Welfare, 3583 Paal, BelgiumBioengineering Technology TC, KU Leuven, 2440 Geel, BelgiumLaboratory of Livestock Physiology, Department of Biosystems, KU Leuven, 3001 Heverlee, BelgiumIn practice, unfamiliar pigs are frequently mixed prior to loading in order to obtain groups of uniform weight and to adjust the group size to the dimensions of the trailer compartments. Mixing pigs induces aggressive interactions to establish a new social rank. Fighting results in skin lesions and pre-slaughter stress and, in turn, reduced meat quality. A study was performed to compare the effect of non-regrouping and regrouping at fattening (at 80 kg and kept till slaughter), loading and lairage. A total of 1332 pigs were included over 30 transports from one pig farm to one slaughterhouse (110 km). Skin lesions were determined on 1314 carcasses. Meat quality was measured on 620 pigs. The non-regrouped pigs had fewer skin lesions and better meat quality than the pigs regrouped at loading or in lairage. Pigs mixed at 80 kg at the farm had, in general, a comparable amount of skin lesions and comparable meat quality as the non-mixed group. If mixing is unavoidable, due to large within-group weight variations, mixing at 80 kg can be an alternative to reduce skin lesions at slaughter and to optimise meat quality.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/4/544groupingmeat qualitypigsskin lesionstransport |
| spellingShingle | Bert Driessen Sanne Van Beirendonck Johan Buyse The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses Animals grouping meat quality pigs skin lesions transport |
| title | The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses |
| title_full | The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses |
| title_fullStr | The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses |
| title_short | The Impact of Grouping on Skin Lesions and Meat Quality of Pig Carcasses |
| title_sort | impact of grouping on skin lesions and meat quality of pig carcasses |
| topic | grouping meat quality pigs skin lesions transport |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/4/544 |
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