Pigs from automatic sorting facilities have less death loss during transportation and holding prior to slaughter than pigs from conventional facilities. These findings were presented by Meghann Brumsted, University of Pennsylvania, at the 2004 American Association of Swine Veterinarians annual meeting held in March.

Seventeen facilities using automatic sorting technology were compared to 49 conventional finishers housing pigs with similar genetics, management and nutrition. In analyzing packing plant kill sheets, the number of pigs that were dead on arrival at the plant and those that died at the plant prior to slaughter defined the total number dead.

The average number of dead animals per truckload from conventional facilities was more than twice the number dead per truckload delivered from automatic sorting facilities. This noted difference in death loss between the two types of finishing facilities is based on analysis of over 2000 loads, of nearly 200 pigs each, and represents all pigs shipped from these 66 facilities over a one year period.

According to Brumsted and her co-authors, Drs. David Galligan and Tom Parsons, these findings document additional economic benefits of automatic sorting facilities and demonstrate the pork industry’s ongoing effort to adapt to welfare friendly production methods.