Author
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CUNNINGHAM, JAMES - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE |
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MCSWEENEY, K - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE |
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CONGLETON, J - BAYLOR COLL OF MEDICINE |
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Submitted to: Contemporary Nutrition
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal Publication Acceptance Date: 9/1/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: We wanted to improve the method of transporting pregnant sows from their barn stalls to our research institution. The standard method involved manually pushing the sows onto a livestock trailer, which increased the risk of injury to handlers and sows when moving across slippery concrete flooring. We created a portable ramp with nonskid vinyl-coated flooring for rhoofed animals. This ramp enabled the sows to walk from the barn stall and up into a sow transport unit that we equipped with the same flooring. The wheeled unit was pulled up a commercially available walk ramp onto the liftgate and into the truck body by use of an electric winch. At the laboratory animal facility, the sow moved across the same flooring from the unit, through an elevated walkway we designed, and into an elevated farrowing stall. Our ergonomic technique reduced manpower requirements from as many as six handlers to two; minimized the risk of injury to sow and worker; facilitated observation of sow and piglets by investigators and veterinarians; and made a usually unwieldy sow weighing 400 to 700 lb much easier to transport, hence more appealing as an animal model. Technical Abstract: We wanted to improve the method of transporting pregnant sows from their barn stalls to our research institution. The standard method involved manually pushing the sows onto a livestock trailer, which increased the risk of injury to handlers and sows when moving across slippery concrete flooring. We created a portable ramp with nonskid vinyl-coated flooring for rhoofed animals. This ramp enabled the sows to walk from the barn stall and up into a sow transport unit that we equipped with the same flooring. The wheeled unit was pulled up a commercially available walk ramp onto the liftgate and into the truck body by use of an electric winch. At the laboratory animal facility, the sow moved across the same flooring from the unit, through an elevated walkway we designed, and into an elevated farrowing stall. Our ergonomic technique reduced manpower requirements from as many as six handlers to two; minimized the risk of injury to sow and worker; facilitated observation of sow and piglets by investigators and veterinarians; and made a usually unwieldy sow weighing 400 to 700 lb much easier to transport, hence more appealing as an animal model. |
