Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
10.1
Introduction
The twenty-first century is marked both by a free exchange of goods and by an
intense flow of people, which increase the need to market living animals (Swanson
and Morrow-Tesch
2001
). Regarding this complex phenomenon, the opinion of
farmers, traders, and consumers sometimes does not agree. However, animal
handling can address this issue, assuring a lack of stress and increased health during
animal transport and allowing optimal meat-quality traits. Animal welfare provides
the moral duty of respecting the animals and their sensitivities (sentient animals)
using more suitable rearing systems (Broom
1998
,
2003
). Animal transport
encompasses stressors that act with different intensities during the journey and
depend on individual reactivities toward each stressor (Fazio and Ferlazzo
2003
).
Thermic stress should be investigated to determine whether an animal's adaptation
remains within normal physiological limits or markedly involves the thermoregu-
latory system, causing simultaneous changes in welfare parameters (Verga
1994
),
leading to the exhaustion phase of the general adaptation syndrome (GAS) (Selye
1946
). This study examines routine animal haulages to evaluate the effects of
ambient temperature (seasonal effects) on clinical, physiological, behavioral, and
productive welfare indicators (Grandin
1997
). For this purpose, two similar long-
road transports (transport effect; 9 h journey, 1 h stop, 9 h journey, and further 2 h
journey to the destination farm) were made in different ambient temperatures:
summer (July) and winter (January).
10.2 Materials and Methods
Two calf transports were carried out from Poland (Warszawa) to Italy (Padova;
1,400 km) in July and January. All transported calves (
n
¼
180 in summer and
n
192 in winter) were chosen from Polish farms and transferred to a transit center
(Wolborz, Poland) where they stayed for 30-34 h before leaving for rearing at
Italian farms. The loading density was equal to 0.55 m
2
per head, allowing the
calves to lie down suitably. In both haulages, the calves were monitored from the
Polish farms to the farm of destination and for some time afterward. The Holstein
Frisian calves (30-45 days and 65-80 kg) were clinically healthy during the
experimental period. Their RTs were measured. Electrocardiogram electrodes,
which were placed on the skin, and a subcutaneous electrode allowed monitoring
of ECG, ST, and the movement of the calves by a Dispositivo Medico Multi -
Parametrico in Radio Frequenza DEP (Wireless Sensor Networks S.r.l., Monza,
Italy). The calves were weighed and fed before loading. During both transports,
each of the seven sampled calves was placed in each box of the three loading
platforms of the truck. The transports were made by the same truck, drivers,
roadways, and stops; the truck had all requirements provided for by law. The
summer and winter AT (Data Logger 32 - Siemens) correlated to the loading
¼
