The penalty for overloading is greatly increased in losses from death and crippling. Table 1 is the recommendations for the space requirements for loading hogs. Shrink Factors Shrinkage is affected by several factors, all controllable to some extent. Two factors that are related but somewhat independent are distance to market and time in transit. Table 2 shows the effect of distance to market or time in transit.
Some shrinkage occurs regardless of how hogs are handled pre-transit.
Generally speaking, if the total shrink from farm sorting to slaughter is above 2 percent, it should be considered unnecessary or unusual and efforts must be made to identify the cause. Heavy or overweight hogs tend to be predispose to injuries and death. Those raised in confinement tolerate mishandling and exertion less than non-confined hogs. A group of hogs that vary widely in weight generally shrink more than uniform-size pigs. Using wet sand during hot weather and straw bedding during cold weather further reduces shrink.