Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

Abstract

Age at weaning affects the behaviour of piglets weaned in conventional confined environments. The adaptation of piglets to this event, which exposes piglets to important stressors, has not been examined in detail in outdoor systems. The aim of this study was to compare the behaviour of piglets weaned at 3 or 4 weeks of age in an outdoor production system. Six replicates of four piglets born and raised outdoors, originated from different litters but previously acquainted, were weaned at the age of approximately 20 (D20) or 30 (D30) days in 36 m 2 outdoor pens and offered high-quality diets. Their behaviour was recorded by direct visual observation during four consecutive days after weaning (days 1 to 4). Data were analysed by repeated measures ANOVA. An effect of weaning age was observed on feeding and rooting ( P , 0.01), and a day-by-weaning age interaction for escape attempts, vocalizing, walking and fighting ( P , 0.01), and playing ( P , 0.03). Compared to D30 piglets, D20 piglets showed a higher frequency of escape attempts on day 1, vocalized more during days 1 and 2, and walked more during days 1 to 3 ( P , 0.05). Feeding behaviour, on the other hand, was higher in D30 piglets on days 1 to 3 ( P , 0.05). On days 3 and 4, D30 piglets spent more time interacting with peers (playing and fighting; P , 0.05) and on day 4 were more active than D20 piglets ( P , 0.05). As previously reported in confined environments, age at weaning affected the behaviour of piglets raised on the outdoors system. Weaning appeared to be more stressful for the piglets at 3 than at 4 weeks of age. The impact of weaning age on welfare cannot be ignored, especially when outdoor breeding of pigs is proposed to address welfare concerns of the public.Keywords: pig, housing, social, ingestive, welfare ImplicationsIncreasing the age at weaning from 3 to 4 weeks improves the welfare of piglets reared outdoors by reducing distress behaviours and improving feeding behaviour. This is relevant considering that a key reason for rearing pigs in outdoor environments is to address ethical concerns of consumers regarding the wellbeing of the animals. IntroductionConventional weaning in the pig industry involves exposing young piglets to several concomitant stressors: transfer to a novel environment; separation from the sow and littermates, often mixing with unknown peers; and the loss of the main source of nutrition, i.e. milk. Because this is done without a period of transition necessary to make the solid feed attractive to the piglets, weaning generally is followed by a period of low feed intake (Weary et al., 2008). Additionally, at this age the digestive system of the piglets is not adapted to digest solid feed, which predisposes the young animals to diarrhoea and secondary infections (Dong and Pluske, 2007). In order to overcome this problem, diets especially designed for the digestive system of very young piglets have been formulated (Dritz et al., 1996). However, because the behaviour of piglets weaned at very young ages indicates distress an...

Piglets’ weaning behavioural response is influenced by quality of human–animal interactions during suckling

“…Overall, the post-weaning behavioural response observed in this study corroborate several studies that conclude that early and abrupt weaning is a source of distress for young piglets (Weary et al, 1999;Colson et al, 2006;Hö tzel et al, 2010). In addition, this suggests that handling quality may contribute to aggravate the distress response to weaning.…”

“…Early-weaned piglets usually display behavioural responses indicative of distress, such as increased frequency of vocalisations (Weary et al, 1999;Colson et al, 2006), abnormal behaviours (Gonyou et al, 1998;Weary et al, 1999;Worobec et al, 1999), aggression (Jarvis et al, 2008;Devillers and Farmer, 2009), escape attempts (Worobec et al, 1999;Hö tzel et al, 2010) and low-feed intake (Gonyou et al, 1998;Van der Meulen et al, 2010), which is accompanied by impaired intestinal integrity and functionality, growth depression, increased susceptibility to disease and mortality (Pluske et al, 1997;Van der Meulen et al, 2010). These responses are attributed to the early and abrupt separation from the dam and change in diet, although it is recognised that pre-and post-weaning environmental stressors may also contribute (Weary et al, 2008).…”

Teat order affects postweaning behaviour in piglets

“…The behavioural response of piglets immediately after weaning, which was characterized by low feed intake and an increase in activityrepresented mainly by escape attempts and less time lying, and an increase in vocalizations -is in accordance with previous studies that concluded that many factors of weaning management underlie the behavioural response to weaning, such as changes in the physical and social environment (HÖTZEL et al, 2011), age at weaning (HÖTZEL et al, 2010) and quality of handling (SOMMAVILLA et al, 2011). Complementing this information, the present study demonstrates that intrinsic factors of individual piglets, associated to teat order, influence this response.…”

Impact of two light programs and two levels of dietary tryptophan for weanling piglets

“…According to Table 2 Animal behaviors observed during the nursery phase and their definitions. Source: Adapted from Hurnik et al (1995), Hötzel et al (2004Hötzel et al ( , 2010 and Reiners et al (2010).…”