Delaying pigs from the normal production flow is associated with health problems and poorer performance

Table 1 Univariable linear models for the association between three different production flows and cold carcass weight, lean meat %, muscle depth and fat thickness in 240 finisher pigs selected for a nested case control design

	Cold carcass weight		Lean meat %²		Muscle content, kg		Fat thickness, mm
Production flow¹	LS mean	SE	LS mean	SE	LS mean	SE	LS mean	SE
1	88.54^a	0.90	56.65^a	0.20	52.91^a	0.38	13.48^a	0.23
2	86.18^a	1.27	56.56^a	0.28	52.26^a,b	0.54	13.49^a,b	0.33
3	78.48^b	1.27	57.18^a	0.28	49.11^b	0.54	12.21^b	0.33

¹All animals were slaughtered within 1 week at approximately 20 weeks post-weaning and were retrospectively classified into three production flows according to the extra time they required to be moved to the next production stage (i.e. Flow 1 = normal, Flow 2 = delayed 1 week and Flow 3 = delayed >1 week)
²Calculated according to the formula established by the European Communities Pig Carcass Grading Amendment Regulations (Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 2001) as %lean meat = 60.30 − (0.847 × fat thickness) + (0.147 × muscle)
^a,bWithin columns, significant differences between levels of each predictor variable; P < 0.05

ISSN: 2055-5660