The effect of feed trough position on choice of defecation area in farrowing pens by loose sows

Posted in: Environment, Production, Welfare by admin on July 25, 2011 | No Comments

The primary aim of the present study was to investigate how the feed trough position affects the sow’s choice of defecation area in a loose house farrowing pen. The eliminative behaviour of 24 1st parity sows was studied in a cross-over design. The feed trough and the water were positioned either in the activity area towards the neighbouring pen or in the activity area towards the aisle. On day 15 after farrowing, the feed trough and the water were moved to the opposite position. Videotapes were observed continuously on real time and the time of urination or defecation were recorded along with head and hindquarter positions in the period of days 7–14 and in the period of days 21–28 after farrowing. The feed trough position had a significant effect on sow head position when eliminating. Sows preferred the head to be located as far away from the resting area and the feed trough as possible when eliminating. For the hindquarter position, there was a significant effect of feed trough position on the number of observations that the hindquarter was over the slatted area when eliminating. A confounding effect could be that the sow’s hindquarter position was influenced by a partition wall placed in one end of the pen. No significant difference was found between observations periods on frequency of urination or defecation. The results demonstrate the importance of design of farrowing pens for loose housed sows to ensure that the sow eliminate in the designated areas.

Increasing the piglets’ use of the creep area—A battle against biology?

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Indoor farrowing systems are based upon the assumption that the newborn piglets will leave their mother after suckling and enter a heated creep area, but newborn piglets are motivated to remain close to the sow. Several creep area features attractive to piglets were used to attempt to increase time spent in the creep area the first two days after birth and to find out whether increased time spent in the creep area would affect early piglet mortality in farrowing pens. Forty-six loose-housed sows and their litters kept in individual farrowing pens were subjected to one of three creep area treatments; control (CON); concrete floor in the creep area, bedding (BED); an insulated and soft bedding in the creep area and HUT; an insulated and soft bedding in the creep area plus an additional wall to increase the heat conserving capacity in the creep area. The pens were video-recorded from 0–72 h after birth and analysis was conducted from 08:00 h to 14:00 h and from 20:00 h to 02:00 h on each day. The attempts to make the creep area attractive did not increase the use of the creep area; piglets in the HUT treatment spent less time in the creep area and more time resting near the sow than piglets in the CON and BED treatment. Improving the thermal comfort and increase the layer of bedding in the creep area did not increase time spent away from the sow, nor did it reduce piglet mortality. Quality of the creep area thus appears to have little impact on piglet survival.

Playing and fighting by piglets around weaning on farms, employing individual or group housing of lactating sows

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In the pig industry, piglets are weaned earlier than in nature. Early weaning has an impact on piglet growth and feeding behaviour, but this may differ, apart from the weaning age, according to the housing environment. Piglets from sow group housing systems (GH), where several litters and sows live together, may be better prepared for weaning than those from individual housing of sows with litters (IH) because increased freedom of movement and social contact as well as co-mingling litters before weaning are known to affect piglet social behaviour positively. However, these issues have rarely been investigated on commercial pig farms. Therefore, we assessed piglets playing, fighting and biting behaviour before and after weaning and how they were affected by the housing system and weaning age as well as how the three behaviours are related to each other and piglet post-weaning weight gain. We recorded playing, fighting and biting behaviour in 5 GH farms (6–11 lactating sows and their litters kept in a large straw-bedded pen), and in 5 IH farms (each sow and litter kept in a pen with less straw) in Sweden. We observed 16 piglets (2 males and 2 females per litter) from 4 litters (in GH farms belonging to the same group) in each farm on the day before weaning (W -1), the weaning day (W) and 5 days after weaning (W+5). Weaning was accomplished (without mixing litters) by removing the sows after on average 39 days of lactation. All statistics were based on farm averages. There was no difference between GH and IH farms in the frequency of playing, fighting or biting behaviour, and weaning age did not affect any of the three behaviours. However, the frequency of playing and fighting differed significantly across the three observation days. Play was higher on day W-1 and on day W than on W+5, fighting was lower on W-1 than on W or W+5. On W-1 and W+5, playing correlated with fighting but biting correlated with neither playing nor fighting. In farms with higher weight gain between W and W+ 5 days, piglets played and fought more on W+ 5 day. We conclude that social piglet behaviour around weaning was not different between GH and IH farms; play and fighting (but not isolated biting) seemed to form one continuum; and playing and fighting in weaned (nonmixed) piglets seemed to indicate good adaptation.

Validation of accelerometers to automatically record sow postures and stepping behaviour

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  Two studies were performed to develop and validate an automated method of detecting postures and stepping behaviour in sows. In the first study, two accelerometers were simultaneously tested on 23 multiparous sows to detect the following postures: standing, sitting, lying ventrally and lying laterally. First off, a data set from 11 sows was used to establish the methodology and algorithm to automatically detect postures, and a second set from 12 sows was used for validation purposes. Sows were housed in gestating stalls, pens, farrowing crates or farrowing pens with straw. One accelerometer was fastened to a hind leg and the other to the back of the sow (between shoulder blades). The data loggers recorded the acceleration on three axes every 5s for 6 h; these data were then converted into degrees of tilt, which were used to discriminate between postures according to angles determined with the first data set. Based on video observations, sows spent an average time of 23.1% standing, 24.6% lying ventrally, 48.1% lying laterally and 4.2% sitting. The second study was performed to validate the use of accelerometers for counting hind limb stepping behaviour around feeding in 10 sows. Animals were housed either in gestating stalls or in pens and had an accelerometer fastened to one rear leg. The data logger recorded the acceleration on the vertical axis 10 times per s for 30 min, starting at the time of feeding. The accelerometer data was compared to video observations and 1448 steps were assessed in total. In conclusion, accelerometers can be successfully used to detect postures and the number of hind limb steps in sows.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

Aggression in replacement grower and finisher gilts fed a short-term high tryptophan diet and the effect of long-term human–animal interaction

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Aggression can be a major problem for swine production as it negatively impacts the pigs’ health and welfare. Increasing tryptophan (TRP) intake to raise brain serotonin (5-HT)—key for aggression control, and long-term positive social handling can reduce stress in pigs. Objective was to feed a short-term high-TRP diet to grower (3 months) and finisher (6 months) maternal gilts that were either socially handled or not and measure their behavioural activity and aggressiveness. Eight pens of six unrelated gilts were split into two blocks balanced for litter, social handling (non- vs. handled) and dietary treatment (control vs. high-TRP). Social-handling was applied three times per week, from day 45 until 6 months of age. At 3 months, two handled and two non-handled pens were assigned to control while the other four pens were assigned to the high-TRP diet fed ad libitum for 7 days. At 6 months of age, pen assignment to dietary treatments was swapped. Body weights and blood were taken at the start and at the end. Blood samples were analyzed for TRP and 5-HT concentrations using high pressure liquid chromatography. Behaviour was recorded from days 1 to 5 and scan-sampling used to determine time-budget behaviours and postures in a 12-h period each day. Aggression evaluation in the home pen focused on counts of agonistic interactions, bites and head-knocks per interaction during three, 30-min intervals (08:00, 12:00, and 16:00 h) from days 1 to 5. Resident–intruder test was carried out for a maximum of 300s at days 6 and 7 to measure aggressiveness, predicted by the latency to the first attack and attack outcomes. A 2×2 factorial arrangement of dietary treatment and social handling within age was analyzed by repeated measures of mixed models and Tukey adjustments. The TRP-added diet raised blood TRP concentration of 3- and 6-month-old gilts by 180.7% and 85.2% respectively, reduced behavioural activity and time spent standing, while increasing lying behaviour, mostly in grower gilts. High-TRP diet reduced the number of agonistic interactions, and aggressiveness in 3-month old gilts, which took longer to attack the intruder pig, and displayed fewer attacks on the first day of testing. Long-term positive social handling improved growth performance and had a slight effect on behaviour (P< 0.05). Provision of enhanced TRP diet reduced behavioural activity and aggressiveness of grower gilts, and these results are likelymediated by activation of brain serotonergic system. Short-term high-TRP dietary supplementation may be used to reduce aggression at mixing in young pigs.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

Social hierarchy affects the adaption of pregnant sows to a call feeding learning paradigm

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The aim of the study was to test whether adult sows are able to learn an individual acoustic signal for call-feeding in groups supplied with an electronic feeder. Further, we investigated whether and how the social rank of sows affects learning success. Thirty-six sows were examined in 6 successive trials. In each, the animals were kept together for establishing a social hierarchy a week before conditioning started. Agonistic interactions were observed and a dominance index (DI) was calculated for the sows of each trial. Based on the DI sows were categorised as dominant, subordinate, or submissive. Afterwards groups were transferred to the experimental pen which was equipped with one electronic feeder supplemented with a loudspeaker and software, the call-feeding station (CFS). The training started with classical conditioning (7 days) where the animals entered the CFS spontaneously 6 times daily and received a portion of feed immediately after an individual acoustic signal had been played. In the following operant conditioning phase (13 days) the individuals had to learn that they could enter the CFS and receive feed only after they had heard their signal. The animals were called 6 times daily to feed the respective fraction of the daily feed allowance. On the average, after 8 days of operant conditioning the animals reached the learning criterion of following 80% of their calls. The success rates differed significantly between the three rank groups. In the dominant and subordinate groups 93% and 71% of the animals reached the learning criterion at the end of the experiment after 13 days of operant conditioning, while only 64% of the submissive sows did so. If only the number of successful, i.e. rewarded, enters of the station was considered those submissive animals who had reached the learning criterion did not differ significantly from the others. During learning, the time required to approach the CFS decreased significantly as well as the rate of false attempts to enter if another animal was called. At start of the operant training dominant sows blocked the entrance of the CFS. With increasing learning success of these sows this behaviour decreased significantly. The experiment has demonstrated that call feeding can be applied successfully with pregnant sows. It has the potential to increase animal welfare because, by calling them individually to the feeder, it provides the animals with a positive short time anticipation of unaffected feeding.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

Subordination style’ in pigs? The response of pregnant sows to mixing stress affects their offspring’s behaviour and stress reactivity

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In various mammals stress during gestation can result in long term effects on the behaviour and physiology of the offspring. The aims of this study were to characterize individual variation among gilts in their behavioural and physiological response to a commercially relevant social challenge (mixing with older sows) during gestation and to determine whether this variation was associated with a corresponding variation in the subsequent effects on the offspring. After assessing dominance in a food competition test, 24 gilts were studied in groups of six during two one-week periods (unmixed – U). These gilts were split into eight subgroups of three gilts, each of which were mixed with two older sows for one week (mixed – M1) before being returned to their original group of six for two weeks. Mixing was then repeated using different older sows during a second week (mixed – M2). Aggressive behaviour, skin lesions and salivary cortisol increase over baseline were higher, and weight gain was lower during mixed periods. During mixing gilts spent more time in feeder stalls, avoiding sows lying in a straw-bedded area, although there was considerable variation among individuals in the extent to which they interacted with or avoided sows. Gilts which interacted more with sows had lower weight gain and higher lesion scores. Previously dominant gilts had higher salivary cortisol increases during mixing. Measures of the impact of mixing, most notably M1 lesion scores, were associated with the behaviour of their offspring: gilts with more lesions had piglets that were less active and less vocal on the day of weaning and over 31 days post-weaning, and were less aggressive over 31 days post-weaning. Thirty-two piglets (from 16 of the gilts) were either restrained for 30 min or not restrained prior to euthanasia at 60 days of age. The restrained piglets from gilts with higher M1 lesion scores had higher levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone mRNA in the paraventricular nucleus and amygdala. This study demonstrates that differences between individual gilts in their experience of a stressful social challenge co-vary with the extent to which this pre-natal stress impacts on their offspring.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

A flooring comparison: The impact of rubber mats on the health, behavior, and welfare of group-housed sows at breeding

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Comfortable flooring may impact many aspects of an animal’s welfare, including lying behavior, an animal’s ability to change postures, and incidence of lameness and lesions. Therefore, we hypothesized that the addition of rubber mats to stalls of group pens would improve sow health, comfort and welfare during breeding. In this study, Landrace X York-Yorkshire sows (128) were mixed post-weaning and housed in pens of four. The pens contained a slatted group area and four feeding stalls. Rubber mats (measuring 1.83m X 0.61m X 1.27 cm) were added to the feeding stalls of half of the pens and rotated to the opposite pens for each replication. The behavioral time budgets of the sows were recorded throughout the experiment; lesion and lameness scores were collected prior to mixing and at the end of the experiment. Data were analyzed as repeated measures mixed models with post hoc Tukey tests. The pattern of behaviors performed in the stall versus group area was different for mat and concrete treatments. Tukey tests revealed that only resting behaviors were affected. We then examined resting behavior in detail. Time spent in different resting postures (sternal versus lateral lying) differed between treatments, where sows on mats spent more time lying laterally and performed more of their lying behavior in the stalls compared to sows on concrete. Additionally, sows stood up and laid down more frequently than sows on concrete. Warm temperatures reduced resting behavior in the stalls. Sows in matted pens had a lower total lesion score at the end of the experiment in comparison to sows in concrete pens. Lameness scores did not differ between treatments. These results imply that the provision of alternative comfort flooring may provide welfare benefits to breeding sows, though environmental temperature needs to be considered when providing rubber mats.

Sow preferences for farrowing under a cover with and without access to straw

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In semi-natural environments sows often select a protected nest site at farrowing. Investigations of nest site selection under indoor conditions are scarce but suggest that sows prefer to nest and farrow under a covered area. Since feed-back from a functional nest may improve maternal behaviour and thus piglet survival we investigated if access to a covered area and ad libitum access to straw would improve maternal behaviour of importance for piglet survival. We used forty-four sows, first time mothers-to-be, housed in large individual pens from approximately 2 weeks prior to expected parturition. The sows were randomly distributed to four treatment groups of +/− ad libitum access to straw combined with +/− access to a covered area in the pen. The sows’ position in the pen (left or right side) was observed from 24 h prior to birth of the first piglet until 24 h after using 10-min interval scan sampling and the temporal pattern of sow position in relation to position of the cover (left or right side of the pen) was studied. Furthermore, postural and nest-building behaviours were observed, as well as situations where the piglets were either at risk of being crushed or were crushed. The results showed no significant influence of cover on sow position. Odds-ratio for choosing the covered farrowing position was 1.4 (95% creditability interval (0.4–5.1)). The temporal pattern of sow position showed that the probability of observing the sows in the part of the pen classified as the farrowing position increased from close to 0.5 to 1 as parturition approached and stayed high during the 24 h observation period after birth of the first piglet, except for a small drop around 12 h after birth of the first piglet. However, the tendency to stay in the nest during farrowing was not increased neither by cover nor by ad libitum access to straw. Access to cover significantly increased prepartum nest-building behaviour whereas there was no significant influence of access to straw. However, it should be taken into account that all sows had access to sawdust on the floor, which may also serve as a nesting material.

The number of crushing and near crushing situations within 24 h after birth of first piglet was significantly decreased in pens with access to straw whereas there was no significant influence of cover on this variable. Neither the number of scan intervals with lateral lying nor the number of postural changes were significantly influenced by cover or straw. In conclusion, the sows did select a specific nest site within the farrowing pen, but neither the choice of nest site nor the temporal consistency of staying in the nest were significantly affected by cover or ad libitum access to straw. Access to a covered area increased the occurrence of nest-building behaviour whereas access to straw reduced the number of near crushing situations.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

The behaviour of male fattening pigs following either surgical castration or vaccination with a GnRF vaccine

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Vaccination of male fattening pigs with a gonadotropin releasing factor (GnRF) vaccine is regarded as a possible solution to solve the welfare problem associated with surgical castration, which causes pain and stress even when performed under local or general anaesthesia. The objective of the present study was to compare the behaviour of male fattening pigs either surgically castrated without anaesthesia (C) or vaccinated twice with a GnRF vaccine (V). Data collection took place in a commercial German fattening unit. Each treatment comprised 8 groups of 12 pigs, housed in fattening pens with partially slatted floor and liquid feed provided three times a day. Data on postures were scored from 24-h videos recorded in every week of the fattening period (16 weeks) using scan sampling with 5 min intervals. Social behaviour was analysed in weeks 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15 and 16 by continuous behaviour recording of focus animals in four blocks of 2 h phased evenly during the day. Overall, during the whole fattening period, vaccinates (V) were more active than surgical castrates (C), indicated by a higher proportion of pigs standing (C:9.3%; V:10.74%). ‘V’ animals showed a significant decrease in standing and an increase of sitting and lying after the second vaccination of Improvac. No significant effects of treatment on the total number of agonistic interactions and on biting and fighting were found. In ‘V’ the prevalence of aggressive behaviours decreased after the second vaccination which was not found in ‘C’ during the same period. ‘V’ animals showed a higher level of mounting behaviour compared with ‘C’ animals, but on a very low level. Treatment had no effect on the prevalence of play behaviour and manipulating of pen mates. It is concluded that housing of male pigs vaccinated against GnRF in single sex groups of 12 individuals does not increase behavioural problems in the fattening period compared with surgically castrated males.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues