A systematic approach towards developing environmental enrichment for pigs.

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This study made use of 222 groups of 3 weaner pigs (~ 5 weeks old, ~ 12 kg) and 222 groups of 3 grower pigs (13-14 weeks old, ~ 50 kg). A comparison of 74 different enrichment objects and substrates were presented in four ways, depending on object/substrate use: 1) substrate in a metal box attached to the pen side, 2) object loose on the floor, 3) object attached to the wall, and 4) object suspended from a metal bracket so that the object appeared at eye or floor level. The aim of this study was to determine which enrichment device characteristics were favored, and which of those favored characteristics were age-dependent. The object interaction for both weaner and grower pigs varied from 0.1-11.9 % on day 1, and from 0.2-9.3 % on day 5. On day 1, growers spent an average of 22.3 % of their active time on object-directed behaviour, while weaners spent an average of 16.4 % of their active time on object-directed behaviour. On day 5, active time spent on object-directed behaviour was 8.6 % for growers, and 7.5 % for weaners. Growers had a tendency to interact with the objects more often than weaners, and had a lower latency to interact with an object than weaners on day 1. The mean length of time spent on object interaction was significantly higher on day 1 than on day 5, and was higher among growers. A pig’s motivation to explore, to forage, and to manipulate objects may explain the reason for objects with characteristics such as ‘ingestible’, ‘odorous’, ‘chewable’, ‘deformable’, and ‘destructible’ to be used so extensively among the pigs. A high interaction (6-9 %) with edible objects validates the statement. Furthermore, objects that were not only ‘chewable’ but ‘odorous’ as well, became even more attractive. Renewing a substrate each day also helped to hold a pig’s interest in the enrichment device. Pigs often lost interest in an object that became soiled, such as objects that were provided loosely on the floor. Presenting substrates and objects in a box reduced this problem. Pigs habituated to some objects as early as 3 days after their initial introduction. Analysis of the data in this study concluded that there were 2 different sets of characteristics required of objects on day 1 (day of object introduction) and day 5, indicating that there was a separation between initially attractive characteristics and characteristics that kept the pigs’ attention over a number of days.

The influence of adverse or gentle handling procedures on sexual behaviour in fearful and confident sows.

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This experiment examined if sows’ fearfulness of humans can inhibit sexual behaviour when humans are or are not present. Also, the effects that adverse versus gentle handling may have on the sexual behaviour of sows was examined. During the third week of lactation forty-eight sows were classified as confident or fearful of humans based on a forced three-step human approach. Six days prior to weaning and until the termination of oestrus, sows were either handled adversely or gently twice daily. At weaning, a human approach test was conducted in the sows’ home pen and in a novel arena. Three days after weaning until the end of oestrus a T-maze test was conducted to examine proceptive behaviour with and without the handler being present. The sows were monitored for standing heat during the T-maze test, in her home stall and trans-rectal ultrasonogram was conducted to ensure ovulation did take place. Whether the sow was confident, fearful, gently or adversely handled, all sows came into heat. In the human approach test, regardless of whether the sow was fearful or confident, adverse handling made the sows more fearful of humans. There was a tendency for fearful sows adversely handled to be more fearful of humans than a confident sow adversely handled. In the T-test conducted before the onset of oestrus, adversely handled sows spent less time standing near the boar pen when the handler was present. The presence of the handler had a similar effect on fearful sows. The opposite reaction to the handler was seen in gently handled or confident sows. During oestrus, fearful adversely handled sows spent significantly less time standing near the boar pen when the handler was present. All other sows spent similar amounts of time close to the boar pen regardless of whether the handler was present or not. This illustrates that fearful sows handled gently can overcome their fear of humans during oestrus.

The effects of surface type on lying behaviour and stress responses of dairy cows during periodic weather-induced removal from pasture.

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Since cows are often moved off a pasture during wet weather, four alternative surfaces were examined in terms of cow lying behaviour, body weight, dirtiness, locomotion, and fecal concentrations of stress-induced hormones. Thirty-two non-lactating Friesian cows housed in groups of four on either a specially constructed wood chip pad, a concrete yard, a gravel-surfaced farm laneway or a small paddock. The cows resided there for 4 days, except for the 3 hour period in which they spent grazing at pasture. The farm laneway and the paddock became very muddy during the experiment. Cows on the wood chip pad spent the greatest amount of time lying down. The effects were the result of the frequency of lying bouts rather than the lying duration. Cows in the other treatments compensated by lying in the pasture more during the 3 hour pasture period. The cows housed in the concrete yards had lower body weights and higher fecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations at the end of the 4 day period than cows on the wood chip pad and in the small paddock. Cows that had been housed in the concrete yard had reduced stride lengths when they walked at the end of the 4 day period than cows housed in the farm laneway or small paddock. The cows on the wood chip pad were the least dirty. The results of this study showed that it is important to provide cows with a well drained and comfortable surface to lie on during periodic weather-induced removal from pasture.

Mammary expression of new genes to combat mastitis.

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By combining genes from different organisms, via recombinant DNA techniques, transgenic animals have been developed. Whether this costly technology becomes used in mainstream agriculture will depend on capability establishing new traits in animals that cannot be incorporated by any easy method. Some potential benefits to the livestock industry by using transgenic animals are: more efficient nutrient usage as fewer nutrients will be lost in the feces, altered milk composition that provides all desired nutritional components, and improved immunity to disease. This study is attempting to reduce mastitis in dairy cows by manipulating the mammary gland cells to secrete more antibacterial proteins. This has already been achieved in mice, as they secreted higher levels of the protein lysostaphin in their milk. When this protein is secreted with the milk it improves the mouse’s resistance to Staphylococcus aureus, which is a major cause of mastitis in dairy cows. Currently other antibacterial proteins are that can work complementary to lysostaphin are being sought after. The benefits of having the antibacterial proteins in the milk, is that it will reduce the use of antibiotics currently used to treat mastitis. Injecting or ingesting the antibacterial proteins has proven to be ineffective, as the body’s immune system will destroy them because they are a foreign protein or they are broke down during digestion. However, if the animal produces the protein itself it prevents the immune system from breaking down the protein. Research is also underway to try to limit lysostaphin production to only when it is needed, during an infection with mastitis. The incorporation of transgenic animals into the agricultural industry could be very beneficial but before they are incorporated the DNA used and the animal that is produced from the altered DNA must be extensively studied.

Identification of potential physiological and behavioral indicators of postoperative pain in horses after exploratory celiotomy for colic

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Learning performances in young horses using two different learning tests

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Horse’s personality, including the physical abilities of horse should be considered to achieve optimal performance in equine sports as well as in leisure. Besides temperamental aspects, like emotionality, or the horse’s reactivity towards humans in handling situations, the learning ability of the horse is another relevant personality trait. In the present study 39 young horses (Dutch Warmblood) were tested repeatedly in two learning tests to study whether differences in learning performance are consistent over time and whether individual learning performance differs between learning tests or is affected by emotionality. An aversive stimulus was used in one learning test (the avoidance learning test) and a reward was used in the other learning test (the reward learning test). During both learning tests behaviour as well as heart rate were measured. Each test was done twice when horses were 1 year of age, and twice when they were 2 years of age. In addition, half of the horses received additional physical training from 6 months onwards. In both tests horses could be classified as either performers, i.e. completing the daily session, or as non-performers, i.e. returning to the home environment without having completed the daily session. There were some indications that emotionality might have caused non-performing behaviour, but these indications are not convincing enough to exclude other causes. Horses revealed consistent individual learning performances within years in both tests, and in the avoidance learning test also between years. There was no significant correlation between learning performances in the avoidance learning test and the learning performances in the reward learning test. It is concluded that individual learning abilities are consistent over a short time interval for an avoidance learning test and a reward learning test and over a longer time for the avoidance learning test. Furthermore, results indicate that some horses perform better when they have to learn to avoid an aversive stimulus while others perform better when they are rewarded after a correct response. It is suggested that these differences may be relevant to design optimal individual training programmes and methods.

Relation between early fear- and anxiety-related behaviour and maternal ability in sows.

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This study tested the hypothesis that sows that were less fearful of humans and novel objects at 8 weeks of age would have better mothering abilities which would result in higher reproductive success. Eight-nine gilts were tested in a human approach test and in a novel object approach test. Of the 89 sows tested, only 30 were bred and their subsequent farrowing productivity was recorded. To determine the effect fear and anxiety would have on gilt productivity the following parameters were monitored at farrowing: the duration of farrowing, time interval between piglets birth, the number of times the sows lied on top of or crushed a piglet while she was farrowing, the number of liveborn, stillborn piglets and piglets deaths after birth until weaning. Increased fear of humans (‘fear’) was associated with longer farrowing durations, larger differences in the time interval between the birth of piglets. As the length of time for a sow to farrow her litter increased, there was an increase in the number of piglet deaths prior to weaning. Gilts that were more fearful of humans also had more stillborn piglets and more piglets die prior to weaning. Fear of a novel object (‘anxiety’) was also associated with a higher number of stillborn piglets. It was concluded that fear of humans in reproductive animals could potentially lead to a decrease in productivity.

Individual differences in behaviour, physiology and pathology in breeding gilts housed in groups or stalls.

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Pigs show a large degree of variation in their behavioural and physiological responses to environmental challenges. The variation in behavioural response can be assessed by the degree of resistance displayed early in life in a so-called ‘backtest’. A number of studies in young pigs have demonstrated a relation between a variety of behavioural and physiological features and the degree of resistance. This study aimed at investigating the relation between the backtest response and the development of stereotypies, the circadian rhythm of cortisol, the heart rate response to feeding, and pathological lesions of heart, lungs and stomach in adult breeding gilts housed in groups or stalls. At 10 and 17 days of age, female piglets classified as high-resisting (HR) or low-resisting (LR) based on backtest. They were housed in groups of six (3 HR, 3LR). At 7 months of age, half of the groups were housed in individual stalls. Time spent chain biting by stalled gilts during 2 h afternoon feeding was studied at regular intervals for 21 weeks. At 11 months of age, saliva was collected from all animals every hour during 24 h for coritsol analysis. At 8 and at 12 months of age, heat rate of all animals was measured around afternoon feeding. Pigs were slaughtered at 14 months of age and heart, lungs and stomach were macroscopically examined. In stalls, HR gilts tended to show more chain biting, had lower circadian cortisol concentrations and showed a diminished heart rate response to feed delivery compared to LR gilts. In group-housed gilts, the circadian rhythm of cortisol and the heart rate response to feed delivery did not related to the backtest response. Stall-housed gilts had lower cortisol concentrations than group-housed gilts. The prevalence of pathological lesions was not influenced by backtest response. Stomach wall damage was more severe in stall-housed gilts. The results suggested that stall-housed gilts were chronically stressed as indicated by low level of cortisol and more lesions on stomach wall. High resisting gilts were prone to develop stereotypies in stall-housing.

Voluntary Animal welfare assessment of mass-produced farm animal housing equipment using a standardized procedure

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Assessment of mass-produced animal-housing equipment can serve as a basis for improving animal welfare. A number of European countries have adopted various legal approaches to such assessment. In Germany, welfare assessment of housing equipment is voluntary, but minimum standards can be set by regulation for the assessment procedure and for the qualifications of the persons involved. From a scientific perspective, the time and resource constraints pose some problems, particularly as they apply to a voluntary procedure. For reasons of practicability, certain compromises will be required. Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that each assessment procedure is based upon scientific principles and considers animal welfare aspects to a sufficient extent. A proposal for the minimum standards of an assessment procedure has been elaborated by Animal Welfare Committee of the German Agricultural Society (Deutsche Landwirtschafts, DLG), a shortened version of which is presented in this paper. The animal welfare impact of such a regulated but voluntary procedure will be less than that of an obligatory assessment; however, the relatively flexible approach may still significantly contribute to the improvement of welfare aspects of livestock housing.

Human-cattle interactions in group housing.

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Traditionally dairy cows have been housed in tie stalls in Europe, which provided an abundance of beneficial close contact with humans. A more common method of housing dairy cows is to loose house them in groups. This provides them with enough space to avoid humans; thus the cows become less habituated to humans, which cause the cows to become fearful of humans and difficult to handle. The problem with fear is it is a negative feeling and can cause stress, and it is extremely undesirable to have associated with the presence of humans. The fear of humans can be remedied by providing the cows with regular exposure to positive contact with humans, and is most effective in young calves. Another change in the dairy industry in Europe is the rising number of cows raised on each farm. The increase in workload forces the farmer to hire stockpeople, which are difficult to find and quite costly to employ when compared to the price paid for milk or meat. Technological developments have helped remedy the problem of needing to find qualified employees, but technology further reduces the amount of contact the cows have with humans. For example, there are now reliable automatic machines that are able to detect health problems, a practice once carried out by the stock person. Thus, individual care and attention continues to decline as its value continually increases. What is known, is that cows will tend to avoid contact with humans unless there is food involved. It is also known that to improve the welfare of cattle, they need to have some form of positive human interaction. What needs to be determined is that if a method of group handling can be incorporated and successful, or will producers need to find a way to provide individual contact with all the cows in their herd. Research also needs to be conducted to determine the effects of group housing and the effect that group size can have on human-cattle interactions.