Assessment of transport stress on cattle travelling a long distance (˜648 km), from Jessore (Indian border) to Chittagong, Bangladesh

Alam, Mahabub; Hasanuzzaman, Md; Hassan, Mohammad Mahmudul; Rakib, Tofazzal Md; Hossain, Md Emran; Rashid, Md Harun; Sayeed, Md Abu; Philips, Lindsay B; Hoque, Md Ahasanul

In the present study, the most common injuries in the cattle at the market of origin were abrasion (11 per cent), barbed wire injury (9 per cent) and scarification (6 per cent). This could be due to the cattle already having travelled a long distance (such as from India) to reach the market of origin, 21 as recorded during cattle trader interview at the market. During the long-distance transportation between markets, the severity of previous cattle injuries significantly increased. For example, abrasion that was 11 per cent prevalent before increased to 21 per cent after transport, and barbed wire injuries increased from 9 per cent to 18 per cent with additional transportation. This could have been a result of the overloaded trucks with an excessive number of cattle and unfair management (such as improper arrangement of cattle on vehicles, inadequate padding support, presence of pointed objects on the truck) and handling (such as quick loading and unloading, not adjusting the vehicle floor level during loading and unloading). These practices were noted and recorded in this study and have been previously supported by Minka and Ayo. 22 The findings of cattle injuries in this study are also supported by a number of earlier investigators in Bangladesh. 13 23 24 However, the cited studies had not compared cattle injuries before and after transportation. So this study was the first of its kind which quantified different cattle injuries before and after transportation.