It is hot and humid out so EonA was in the field to check on pigs arriving at Vion in Boxtel. The good news is that the canopy Vion built around six years ago is continually improving. They’ve added another screen to block the sun’s rays on the other side, as well as set up extra fans and water-misters. They’ve also set up a large digital billboard to remind the transporters of the “extreme weather protocol” requirements, such as lowering density, ensuring water and fans are on board and never parking in the sun but rather to keep driving.
Additionally, they now have a second official inspector for live animals, allowing them to unload two trucks simultaneously when necessary, which helps speed up the process. However, last year they promised to do more to prevent pig trucks arriving earlier than expected from waiting on the roads near their abattoir during hot and humid weather. They even appointed a staff member to patrol the neighborhood and ensure no transporters were doing so, and instruct them to drive around until it was their turn. Unfortunately, when we arrived at 14:00 yesterday, three fully loaded pig trucks were parked in the sun right next to the plant entrance. One remained there until 14:35. Outdoors it was 29 Celsius and 42% humidity. Inside the trucks where the pigs were we measured 31,7 – 33 Celsius. All the pigs had it very warm but some showed particularly strong signs of heat stress, such as breathing rates of 140 breaths per minute and foam build-up around the mouth.
We will continue discussions with Vion, the sector, and the NVWA to address this ongoing concern and find a permanent solution. We would like to thank Vion for receiving our unannounced visit and those drivers that did their best (reduced density and had water on board). We were not impressed with the driver of a closed livestock truck as his vehicle did not provide any access to his animals and he lost the key needed to open the tiny inspection flaps. So during his trip he had no way to visually inspect or, if needed, help an animal in need on board. Fortunately we could borrow a key from another driver.
