In livestock production pigs are handled frequently by humans from their first day of life. Negative experiences with humans result in chronic stress and may have an influence on oestrus behaviour, prolonged parturition and a higher number of stillborn piglets. In this study, a response test towards a stockperson was evaluated for improved maternal behaviour and increased piglet survival. Records were available from 638 German Landrace gilts with 860 observations tested for the response to an observer in the familiar environment of the mating centre. The degree of response was scored in five ordered categories. Fertility information (number of piglets born alive and stillborn) was available from 293 sows. The figures for survival rate and crushing by the sow were used from 2408 piglets. The estimated heritability in the human response test was h2 = 0.09. Gilts which displayed only low response to humans showed fewer stillborn or crushed piglets in their first litter. The conclusion of this study was that the measurement of gilts responses to humans could be collected under production conditions since the gilts were tested in their home pens. The estimated additive genetic variance indicates that there is enough variance for selection. The scoring gives some evidence that sows with low responses to an observer have an improved piglet survival rate. The data also indicated that totally unresponsive sows had a higher number of stillborn piglets.

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