EFFECTS OF FEEDING, WATERING AND RESTING INTERVALS ON LAMBS TRANSPORTED BY ROAD AND FERRY TO FRANCE

Three lorry loads, each of approximately 530 lambs, were monitored dur ing August 1994 while they were transported from the Midlands to Franc e, Each lorry underwent a similar journey, designed to study the effec ts of a) 22 hours on a lorry broken by two hours of feed, water and re st after 15 hours, b) 34 hours on a lorry broken by eight hours of fee d, water and rest after 24 hours and c) 24 hours on a lorry and lairag e for the following 48 hours, Measurements were made on 180 lambs in e ach load, of liveweight, plasma betahydroxybutyrate (BHB), non-esterif ied fatty acids (NEFA), urea, total protein, albumin, osmolality, crea tine kinase (CK), cortisol and glucose, before, during and after trans port, Twenty-four hours of transport resulted in changes in some of th e variables measured that were little different from those observed af ter 24 hours of feed and water deprivation; however, the high ambient temperatures during the transport resulted in a greater degree of dehy dration, For journeys longer than 15 hours a two-hour rest in lairage with access to water and a palatable food source was beneficial in all owing some slight recovery, Although all the differences were in the d irection that would be expected with recovery, they were often small a nd, within the sensitivity of the study, were only significant for NEF A and CK. For journeys longer than 24 hours, an eight-hour rest in lai rage with access to water and a palatable food source was beneficial a nd allowed material realimentation and rehydration before further tran sport for up to 10 hours, After 24 hours of transport, however, livewe ight, plasma urea, total protein and albumin had only returned to basa l levels after 24 hours in lairage and plasma BHB, CK and osmolality a fter 48 hours of lairage.