In order to obtain a better knowledge of the behaviour of the domestic pig, a small population was established in 1978 near Edinburgh in an enclosure with several types of habitat, including woodland and bog. Over a 3·5-year period 13 different groups were studied with each group typically containing a boar, four sows, a young sub-adult boar and an immature gilt. The sow and her piglets were allowed to determine the time of weaning and, apart from providing food for maintenance and reproduction, handling was kept to a minimum. The behaviour of these pigs, which included most of the behaviour of the European wild boar, is described in a general manner for the non-specialist.
The suckling behaviour of domestic pigs living in a socially and ecologically rich outdoor environment was examined in order to obtain a baseline for comparison with behaviour in more restricted and barren environments. It was found that the piglets' growth rates were not consistently influenced by their suckling location along the udder, and that the concept of dominance at the udder was not justified. Crowding at the udder was probably an important factor prompting piglets to seek milk and solid food elsewhere, and two piglets switched from suckling from their own mother to suckling from another sow. True communal suckling was not exhibited. Piglets were responsible for locating their preferred teat and defending it from others. Sows did not attempt to prevent familiar piglets from other litters from suckling from them, although they sometimes terminated a suckling bout when disturbed by fights at the udder. Synchronization of suckling between litters was common. Suckling bouts did not always result in milk let-down, indicating that this is not a phenomenon exclusive to intensive housing systems. Weaning occurred naturally between 60 and 100 days after birth, and its timing varied both within and between litters but was not closely linked to the amount of aggression received from the sow.
A herd of high-yielding Friesian dairy cows was observed outdoors and in a modern cubicle house. Indoors there was a much higher level of gross agonistic behaviour than at pasture (9·5 v. 1·1 per h). Furthermore, the use of continuous filming showed a high level of avoidance amongst the cows which impeded the movement of the more submissive cows. All cows spent proportionately 0·34 to 0·56 of their time indoors watching one another and 0·45 to 0·66 of their time in ‘social tension’. There was less synchrony of behaviour indoors than at pasture and despite the presence of one Calan Broadbent stall for each cow there was a high rate of displacement from the stalls involving cows of all degrees of dominance. The results are discussed in relation to housing design and husbandry practice.
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