EFFECTS OF THE DURATION OF LAIRAGE FOLLOWING TRANSPORTATION ON THE BEHAVIOR AND PHYSIOLOGY OF FARMED RED DEER

Eight groups of five farmed red deer were transported by road for thre e hours, after which they were either slaughtered immediately (T0) or held in lairage for three, six or 18 hours (T3, T6 and T18). Liveweigh t loss increased with lairage time but hot carcase weight was unaffect ed. Deer spent much of the initial period in lairage standing stationa ry in 'alert' postures. After eight to 10 hours the proportions of tim e spent in various postures (standing stationary, moving and lying dow n) were similar to pre-journey values. None of the blood components as sociated with dehydration (packed cell volume, osmolality, total prote in and sodium) changed significantly with lairage time. Compared with T0 deer, plasma creatine kinase activity was significantly decreased i n T18 deer. Lairage time had no effect on skin damage, bruising or mus cle glycogen content, although liver glycogen content increased with l onger lairage time. Although lairage time had a statistically signific ant effect on muscle pH(u) (with T6 deer having the lowest values), th e differences were small and none of the carcases had a pH(u) greater than 6.0.