The world population is projected to exceed 9 billion people by 2050. Estimates are currently projecting we will need to feed an additional 2.3 billion people [1]. Currently our global food production cannot sustain such a large population. Increases in food production will need to be increased if we are going to feed our growing population. Using the most recent USDA livestock production estimates[2] in 2017 there was a total 95.5 billion pounds of meat production with 38.1 billion pounds being hogs and pigs. Currently it is estimated that the average American consumes 64.4 lbs of pork per year [3]. That is the result of 120,516,600 pigs in USDA slaughter houses in 2017 [4]. As the population increases and the demand for food increases so will the demand for pork. One problem that plagues the livestock industry are losses during transport. If an animal is unable to move or dies in transport it is considered non ambulatory and cannot enter the regular meat production lines, in many cases it cannot be used at all. Various studies and reports have shown that as many as 0.7% of pigs can die in transport [5]. While that seems a low percentage it equates to almost 850,000 pigs a year. Using the national average live pig weight of 275.8lbs [4] that results in thousands of wasted meals every year. By decreasing the transport losses of the pigs millions of pounds of additional meat could be used. 

Studies have shown that there are several factors that contribute to transport loss in livestock [6,7]. 

Most of these studies focus on environmental temperature, transport density, and loading practices. Losses will vary with season as the temperature varies, adequate cooling will be required in the summer and insulation in the winter. Loading and unloading of the animals can play a major role in the losses, for animals that have limited movement capability (such as pigs/hogs) the physical exertion of loading and unloading can be too much. Another environmental factor not intensely studied that could lead to losses is vibrational transport environment. When the pigs are subjected to these environments this can lead to fatigue and exhaustion. Many times if exhaustion is extreme this can even lead to fatalities. Which results in lost production that could otherwise be avoided if the environments were better understood.