The behavioural response of sows to the presence of human beings and its relation to productivity

Hemsworth, P.H.; Brand, A.; Willems, Priscila

doi:10.1016/0301-6226(81)90031-2

Cited by 136 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Farmers showing more positive acts towards their calves and more careful movements during their work obtained higher growth rates in their veal units. This confirms earlier findings in pig industry that stockpeople can have an effect on the growth rates, by their behaviour towards the animals [17,18]. According to researchers in this area [1,2,15,16], the reason for this…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Studies in the pig and poultry industries, where the major inputs to the farms were similar, have demonstrated the importance of the stockperson's contact with animals on the behaviour, physiology and productive performance of these animals [2,17,18]. In pigs reared under experimental conditions, negative interactions, like hits, slaps or electrical shocks by a prodder, lead to an increased avoidance of humans [10,14,27], and elevated chronic corticosteroid levels [15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The relationship between farmers' attitude and behaviour towards calves, and productivity of veal units

2000

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

-Although veal production is highly standardised, there still remains variability in productivity between farms, which might be due to the farmers' behaviour towards their animals, which in turn depends on their attitude towards animals. Fifty farms affiliated with the same veal company were studied. The farmers' behaviour with the calves was observed during one morning meal. The farmers were then asked to fill in questionnaires designed to measure their attitude towards calves, and to obtain information about their background (e.g. age, gender, level of education). The productivity results (daily weight gain, feed conversion, and mortality rates) were obtained from the veal company. The frequency of gentle contacts was positively correlated with the description the farmers made of their behaviour with the calves and their beliefs about the sensitivity of calves. Female farmers showed a more positive behaviour towards the calves, had more positive beliefs about the importance of contacts with calves, and made a more positive description of their own behaviour. Positive behaviour was associated with better productivity. Furthermore, bigger units had lower mortality rates. It is concluded that for veal farmers, a positive attitude towards calves, a positive behaviour towards them, and good production results are linked.veal calves / human-animal relationship / handling / behaviour / attitude Résumé -Relation entre l'attitude et le comportement des éleveurs envers les animaux, et la production de veaux de boucherie. Bien que la production de veaux de boucherie soit très standardisée, il reste une certaine variabilité dans les résultats techniques entre élevages. Cette variabilité résiduelle pourrait être due à la façon dont les éleveurs se comportent envers leurs animaux. Cette étude a pour objectifs de décrire le comportement des éleveurs avec leur veaux, d'en comprendre l'origine (en fonction de l'histoire des éleveurs et de leurs attitudes envers les veaux), et d'évaluer la relation entre la productivité des élevages et le comportement et l'attitude des éleveurs. Cinquante élevages affiliés au même intégrateur ont été étudiés. Tous utilisaient la même alimentation

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The relationship between farmers' attitude and behaviour towards calves, and productivity of veal units

2000

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For instance, in the approach test in pen, the space allowance influenced the number of attempts to approach the sow since it gave the sow more chance to escape when the observer approached. In the present experiment, parity also influenced the reactivity to humans, as mentioned by Hemsworth et al (1981). For instance, older sows in stalls appeared to be less fearful, since fewer sows tried to escape or to be aggressive during the approach test, and they needed fewer interventions to exit the stall in the handling tests.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 49%

On-farm evaluation of methods to assess welfare of gestating sows

Conte

Bergeron

Gregoire

et al. 2014

animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The objectives were to evaluate quantitative animal-based measures of sow welfare (lameness, oral stereotypies and reactivity to humans) under commercial farm conditions, and to estimate the influence of housing, sow parity and stage of gestation on the outcome of these measures. Across 10 farms, 311 sows were used. Farms differed in terms of housing design (pen v. stall), space allowance, floor type in stalls (partially v. fully slatted), and feeding system in pens (floor v. trough). Lameness was assessed in terms of gait score, walking speed, stride length, stepping behaviour, response to a stand-up test and latency to lie down after feeding. The presence of oral stereotypies and saliva foam were recorded. Reactivity to humans was assessed by approach (attempt to touch the sow between the ears) and handling tests (exit of the stall for stall-housed sows, or isolation of the animal for pen-housed sows). Only stride length and walking speed were associated with lameness in stall-housed sows (P < 0.05 and P < 0.01). In stalls, the probability that a sow was lame when it presented a short stride length (<83 cm) or a low speed (<1 m/s) was high (69% and 72%, respectively), suggesting that these variables were good indicators of lameness, but were not sufficient to detect every lame sow in a herd (sensitivity of 0.39 and 0.71, respectively). The stage of gestation and parity also influenced measures of stride length and walking speed (P < 0.05). Saliva foam around the mouth was associated with the presence of sham chewing and fixture biting (P < 0.05). The probability that a sow presents sham chewing behaviour when saliva foam around her mouth was observed was moderate (63%) but was not sufficient to detect all sows with stereotypies (41%). A high discrimination index was obtained for behavioural measures (aggressions, escapes) and vocalisations during the approach test (stalls: 78.0 and 64.0; pens: 71.9 and 75.0, respectively), the number of interventions needed to make the sow exit the stall during the handling test for stall-housed sows (74.9), and attempts to escape during the handling test for pen-housed sows (96.9). These results suggest that these measures have a good power to discriminate between sows with low and high reactivity to humans. Finally, the outcome of several measures of lameness, stereotypies and reactivity to humans were influenced by the housing characteristics, sow parity and stage of gestation. Therefore, these factors should be considered to avoid misinterpretations of these measures in terms of welfare.

show abstract

“…In several other studies, the fear of humans and the reproduction performance were linked (Hemsworth et al, 1981 andGrandinson et al, 2003;Janczak et al, 2003). For example, the number of stillborn piglets was related to the fear of humans demonstrated in a withdrawal test in the farrowing crate (Hemsworth et al, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Three days before expected farrowing, a second stockperson performed a human approach test, similar to the one used by Hemsworth et al (1981 and. Their duration of withdrawal after being touched by the stockperson was determined during food distribution while having their head in the feeding trough.…”

Section: Sow Behaviour and Performance At Farrowingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between the behaviour of sows at 6 months old and the behaviour and performance at farrowing

Lensink

Leruste

Roux³

et al. 2009

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Piglet crushing remains a major problem in pig production. Reduced crushing might be obtained through genetic selection on sow behavioural traits. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between behavioural responses at 6 months of age, around farrowing, and sows' reproductive performance including crushing levels. At 6 months of age, behavioural responses of 75 nulliparous sows were observed both during behavioural tests to human presence and to the presence of a novel object in their home pen, and their responses when placed in a weighing device. At first farrowing, nervousness of the sows was observed when placed in the farrowing crate 1 week before and the day of farrowing, as well as their fear responses when approached by a human from behind or at the front of the farrowing crate. At 6 months of age, escape from a human tended to be correlated with the reactivity in the weighing device (r s 5 0.21, P 5 0.09). Around first farrowing, the withdrawal reaction when a human approached at the front was correlated with the fear response when approached from behind and the nervousness of the sow in the crate (r s 5 0.29, P , 0.05; r s 5 0.37, P , 0.01). The fear response when approached from behind was correlated with nervousness in the crate and around farrowing (r s 5 0.70, P , 0.001; r s 5 0.25, P , 0.05), and nervousness in the crate was significantly correlated with the nervousness around farrowing (r s 5 0.34, P , 0.01). The escape from a human at 6 months was correlated with withdrawal when approached from the front before farrowing (r s 5 0.38, P , 0.01) and with nervousness of the sow in the crate (r s 5 0.24, P , 0.05). The number of piglets crushed at first farrowing was correlated with the latency to approach a novel object at 6 months and nervousness around farrowing (r s 5 20.27, P , 0.05; r s 5 0.28, P , 0.05), and tended to be correlated with the escape behaviour from human at 6 months and withdrawal away from human presence before farrowing (r s 5 0.21, P 5 0.09; r s 5 0.22, P 5 0.08). These results suggest that behavioural responses to humans and during management practices of nulliparous sows at 6 months of age are, to some extent, related with their behaviour around farrowing and crushing levels of piglets at farrowing.

show abstract

The behavioural response of sows to the presence of human beings and its relation to productivity

Cited by 136 publications

References 1 publication

The relationship between farmers' attitude and behaviour towards calves, and productivity of veal units

The relationship between farmers' attitude and behaviour towards calves, and productivity of veal units

On-farm evaluation of methods to assess welfare of gestating sows

Relationship between the behaviour of sows at 6 months old and the behaviour and performance at farrowing

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About