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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
The effects of 24h water deprivation when associated with some aspects of transportation on the behaviour and blood chemistry of sheep.
Posted in: Welfare by admin on January 1, 1999 | No Comments
Dairy cows' use of colour cues to discriminate between people.
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Aversive handing of farm animals, and the animals’ resulting fear of people, can substantially reduce both production and the welfare of the animals, and increase the risk of injury to the handlers. Research has found that cows can distinguish between people who handle them aversively and those who handle them gently. The aim of this series of experiments was to examine the ability of dairy cows to discriminate between handlers based on the colour of the clothes worn. A total of 66 Danish Friesian cows were used. The average distance cows kept from the person was calculated from 12 scores during 1 min with the person standing in front of the cow. In experiment A, the distance cows kept, from two unfamiliar people wearing red or yellow overalls, was tested. There was no difference in the distance the cows kept from the two people and the two colours. In experiment B, the distance cows kept from an unfamiliar person wearing familiar coloured overalls (blue) was compared to when the same unfamiliar person was wearing red or yellow overalls. There was no effect due to the colour of the overalls. In experiment C, cows were handled repeatedly, by two handlers wearing overalls of the same colour. Each person handled six cows gently and six cows aversively. There was no significant difference in distance kept from the gentle and the aversive handler. In experiment D, cows were handled repeatedly by one person wearing either red or yellow overalls. The person wore one colour when handling the cows gently and the other colour when handling aversively. The cows kept a longer distance when the handler wore the colour worn during the aversive treatment than when the handler wore the colour worn during the gentle treatment. The cows also responded according to the colour of the clothes when worn by an unfamiliar person, although they kept a shorter distance from the unfamiliar person than to the handler. The results suggested that cows could learn to avoid or approach the same handler based on the colour of overalls the handler wore during the gentle or aversive treatment.
Perceived welfare issues in dairy cattle, with special emphasis on metabolic stress.
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Segregated early weaning and welfare of piglets.
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Space use and agonistic behaviour in relation to sex composition in large flocks of laying hens
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In a natural habit, feral fowl and red jungle fowl form groups and stay within a certain area. When domestic fowl are forced to live together in large flocks, some studies have found indications that birds form subgroups within the main large group, although some have not found this phenomenon. The objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that hens in large flocks have home ranges in parts of the pen and that they form subgroups. Furthermore the influence of males on formation of subgroups was tested in this study. Eight flocks of 568 A
Psychobiological consequences of two different weaning methods in sheep.
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Opioid peptides and behavioral and physiological responses of dairy cows to social isolation in unfamiliar surroundings.
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Cattle were placed either into social isolation in unfamiliar surroundings for 15 minutes, or remained in their home stalls with or without naloxone treatment to test whether endogenous opioid peptides were involved in the behavioral and physiological response of the cattle to stress. Naloxone in the home stall increased cortisol concentrations in the blood. It also tended to decrease the response latency to local thermal stimulation of the leg by means of a laser (pain sensitivity), but did not induce vocalization. When the cattle were housed in social isolation, the incidence of high-frequency vocalization and defecation/urination, heart rate, cortisol concentrations, and response latencies to the laser were increased. Prior administration of naloxone increased the incidence of low-frequency vocalization in isolation, but did not affect heart rate or response to the laser, and it had a limited effect on blood cortisol concentrations. It seems as though brief periods of social isolation in unfamiliar surroundings are stressful to the cow. This was indicated through increased heart rate, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis activity, and vocalization. Pain sensitivity is reduced when cattle are housed in isolation, suggesting a stress-induced analgesia, or pain reliever. However, no evidence of naloxone-sensitive opioid receptor involvement in these responses was found.