With the millions of hogs loaded onto trucks every year, it came as a surprise to Dr. Julia Keenliside that there wasn’t more scientific information on the bio-security of load-out.
In fact, she found one scientific peer-reviewed research article on the subject. “Load-out” was buried deep down in many stories when it was typed into a search bar.
After a large PED outbreak in Manitoba in 2022, Dr. Keenliside, an Alberta-based consultant with a resume a mile long, was contracted to do a research project on the bio-security of load-outs.
“There was concern about why is this happening (in Manitoba); we thought we had PED under control,” she said at the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium in Saskatoon on Nov. 7. “We are baking our trucks, and doing a great job, so why was it coming back?”
Dr. Keenliside speculated that perhaps cold weather, accompanied by snow storms in 2022, made it difficult to bake and dry the trucks.
“You know if a truck comes out wet, when it freezes that virus doesn’t die when it is frozen. In fact, it preserves it. The first thing a pig does when it gets on a truck is suck and lick everything, so maybe we could get the trucks clean, but we can’t assume trucks are 100 per cent clean 100 per cent of the time.
“If truck bio-security fails, no matter how good we are at it, the next line of defence has to be at that line of separation, which is your load-out. But we weren’t sure; we couldn’t prove it.”
The research question for Keenliside and her two team members was “can overall bio-security in a barn be improved by improving the load-out?”
“The problem was, ‘Do we really know what the best load-out design is.’”
The answer was no.
There were three parts to the study, she said.
The first was to review all the articles that had been written on the best load-out procedures.
Dr. Keenliside said the search for information was difficult. As mentioned, there was only the one peer-reviewed scientific article on load-out design that had been published.
Dr. Keenliside found that was much more information out there, but she had to make sure the sources were reputable. She whittled more than 200 articles which mentioned load-out down to 34. These were from sources such as conferences, meetings, magazines, and industry and government publications.
From these, three principles were developed.
*Pigs must never move through a load-out area that is contaminated. (For example, trailer bumpers, dead stock and dust.
*Movement of pigs, people and equipment through the load-out is always one way. (No back and forth movement.)
*Load-out areas must be thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and dried after every use. In general, the risk can be reduced by doing multiple small things consistently. These include through documentation of load-out procedures, ongoing staff training and regular verification that actual load-out operations are following procedures.
Then Dr. Keenliside and her team did a survey in Western Canada.
“What is being done in Western Canada? Is the average load-out a door at the end of the barn or do people have load-outs that are better. We just didn’t know, so we are not sure what to recommend,” she said.
Veterinarians working in the swine industry in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba were invited to participate, given they are on the farms and see load-out areas.
The survey was broken into two parts: procedures and facilities. The results showed most barns have a door at the back of the barn, and pigs walked down the alley and outside onto the truck.
There were other farms that had an enclosed staging area between the barn and truck.
One of the discoveries was that washing, drying and disinfecting following load-out was not commonly done. Written documentation was rarely done.
Separate loading areas for incoming animals separate from the load-out was not commonly found. The load-out separated from the barn was not commonly found.
The survey was helpful.
“It says to us there is a wide range of load-out happening in Western Canada. Our survey was very small but it showed we have a huge diversity and there is lots of room for improvement. Some people are doing lots and some people aren’t doing much.”
In a more perfect world, load-outs would have such things as one-way movement, drainage in a separate pit, one-way gates, and dedicated mortality rooms, she said.
A staging area is not a practical solution for everyone. Barns don’t always have space for a staging area, she said.
“That’s an issue for some producers. I am throwing lots of ideas at you because you will have to decide what works best for your pig flow for your operation and your budget.”

The third part of the work was the summary and getting the results back to the industry.
In the end, 11 recommendations were made for facilities and 14 for load-out procedures.
Among the 11 recommendations for facilities are:
*Establish a clear line of separation. Like painting a line on the floor between clean (inside) and dirty (outside) areas.
*Fully enclosed load-out areas to allow for better cleaning and disinfection.
*Change the barn ventilation system from negative to positive pressure during loading so as not to suck dust from the truck into the barn, or separate load-out rooms with doors that can be closed.
*A separate exit for deadstock and consideration for a separate entrance for breeding stock.
Practical procedures for load-out as related to staff were:
*Farm personnel should never step into the transport truck/trailer.
*Staff should put on a set of outer clothing and boots that are specifically dedicated to load-out.
*Staff from different flows should not work across multiple sites outside their flow.
*Where there are staged load-out areas, at least one person should be stationed inside the load-out area.
A complete list of recommendations can be found at cwshin.ca •
— By Cam Hutchinson