The development of harmful social behaviour in pigs with intact tails and different enrichment backgrounds in two housing systems

Weerd, Heleen van de; Docking, C. M.; Day, J. M.; Edwards, Sandra A.

doi:10.1079/asc40450289

Cited by 125 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…A decreased activity to age was in agreement with findings of Jensen et al (2010) (~40 and 90 LW) and van de Weerd et al (2005). In the current study, percentage of active time spent on straw-directed behaviour decreased from 33.8% to 26.2% from 40 to 80 kg LW.…”

supporting

confidence: 92%

Behaviour of liquid-fed growing pigs provided with straw in various amounts and frequencies

Oxholm

Steinmetz

Lahrmann

et al. 2014

Animal

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Straw possesses many characteristics that make it attractive to pigs and can therefore be effective in preventing negative penmate-directed behaviours. However, straw is difficult to handle in current vacuum slurry systems under most commercial conditions and can therefore only be used in limited amounts. To occupy pigs effectively, straw must remain attractive to pigs throughout the whole day; hence, have a certain degree of novelty. We investigated the penmate-directed behaviour of liquid-fed growing pigs in a production herd, assigned to five experimental treatments: 1 × 25, 1 × 50, 1 × 100, 2 × 50 and 4 × 25 g of chopped straw/pig per day, with 20 replicates of each treatment (pen was regarded as experimental unit). Behaviour was observed at two different growth stages;~40 and 80 kg live weight of the pigs. Activity and exploratory behaviour directed at penmates, straw, pen components and the slatted floor were registered continuously for 15 min of each hour during day time (0600 to 2200 h) by use of video observation of three focal pigs per pen. The pigs were active for about one-third of the day corresponding to~5 h/day. Of the active time, an average of 7% (35 min) was spent on penmate-directed behaviour. The pigs were more active and increased their straw-directed behaviour when provided with 100 g straw/pig per day compared with 25 and 50 g ( P < 0.001). However, penmate-directed behaviour was not reduced with an increased amount of straw ( P > 0.05), and there was no effect on pigs' behaviour when straw provision was increased per day ( P > 0.05). Pigs became less active and reduced their straw-directed activities when their weight increased from 40 to 80 kg live weight ( P < 0.001), but the amount of penmate-directed behaviour was similar ( P > 0.05). Further, the residual straw results indicated that perhaps a more frequent straw provision could help establish a more even level of fresh available straw during the day. However, the frequent straw provision did not occupy pigs more than one daily allocation did. In conclusion, there was no difference in penmate-directed behaviour of the pigs when given 25 or 50 g of straw/pig per day compared with 100 g of straw/pig per day, nor were there any difference when 100 g of straw/pig per day was provided more frequently.

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supporting

confidence: 92%

Behaviour of liquid-fed growing pigs provided with straw in various amounts and frequencies

Oxholm

Steinmetz

Lahrmann

et al. 2014

Animal

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“…Tail-biting can be considered as a redirected behaviour, following the theory that in the absence of rooting material manipulative behaviours are redirected to pen-mates and may develop into harmful social behaviours. This has been supported by a number of studies which have shown that providing straw can reduce the levels of tail-biting (Beattie et al, 1995;Day et al, 2002a;Zonderland et al, 2004;Van de Weerd et al, 2005;Van De Weerd et al, 2006;Scott et al, 2007a) and other harmful social behaviour such as aggression (Ruiterkamp, 1985;Beattie et al, 1996;O'Connell and Beattie, 1999;Beattie et al, 2000b), bellynosing (Petersen et al, 1995) and nosing, chewing or biting pen-mates (Fraser et al, 1991b;Beattie et al, 1995;Simonsen, 1995;Beattie et al, 2000b). Straw also provides a pig with roughage and thermoregulatory control at cold temperatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 84%

A longitudinal study of the effects of providing straw at different stages of life on tail-biting and other behaviour in commercially housed pigs

Statham

Green

Mendl

2011

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Tail-biting (TB) is a welfare concern. Recent studies indicate that early provision of straw may help prevent TB, however, many of these studies were carried out on small groups of pigs and may have limited applicability to commercial farms. The effect of providing straw at different stages of life was studied in large groups of pigs (21-39) on a commercial farm. Six replicates of four treatments were used (No Straw (NS), Straw in Finishing (12 weeks of age onwards) (SF), Straw from Weaning (SW), Straw Throughout Life (ST)). Based on previous studies, it was predicted that levels of TB would be lowest in ST and highest in NS. A total of 706 pigs were followed from birth to slaughter, however one replicate (all four groups) was excluded due to circumstances beyond our control. All pigs were housed on solid floors, and shavings were provided in pens without straw. Fresh bedding was provided twice per week. Behaviours were recorded at regular intervals and all tail-biting outbreaks were recorded.The timing of straw provision had limited effect on pigs" behaviour. Before weaning there was no difference in the time spent exploring the substrate between groups with straw and those without. After weaning, the time spent rooting was significantly different between treatments (F (13,16) =3.796, p<0.05) with post-hoc testing indicating that levels were significantly higher in SW than NS but that there was no difference between ST and the other treatments. Of the 20 groups, fourteen had tail-biting outbreaks (NS=3, SF=2, SW=4, ST=5), eight of these were classed as severe (NS=2, SF=0, SW=1, ST=3). Provision of straw did not have a significant effect on the distribution of tail-biting outbreaks (p = 0.336).This unexpected finding was not explained by other variables (e.g. stocking density). It may have been related to the finding that straw provision did not increase the amount of rooting as expected, perhaps because the provision of solid floors and shavings allowed rooting in non-straw treatments. Most TB was seen in the finishing pigs where straw levels increased for SF but declined for ST and SW relative to earlier in life due to the farm"s management practice. The levels of tail-biting were higher than expected in ST / SW and lower than expected in SF, suggesting that the novelty of straw for SF might have decreased the risk of TB whilst the decline in straw provision for ST/SW might have increased the risk.

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“…Low frequencies of fighting following weaning in this study may have a number of reasons. First, the piglets that formed the new groups were acquainted during lactation, which is known to reduce fighting after mixing (Pitts et al, 2000;Weary et al, 2002;D'Eath, 2005); second, at weaning, these piglets were housed in a large enclosure with relatively low density, where they had the opportunity to root, which is known to reduce peer-directed behaviours (Van de Weerd et al, 2005). Additionally, because of the higher environmental stimulus, outdoor piglets play more during the lactation period (Johnson et al, 2001;Hö tzel et al, 2004), which is also thought to reduce fighting after weaning (O'Connell and Beattie, 1999).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Hötzel

Filho

Irgang

et al. 2010

Animal

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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...

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The development of harmful social behaviour in pigs with intact tails and different enrichment backgrounds in two housing systems

Cited by 125 publications

References 31 publications

Behaviour of liquid-fed growing pigs provided with straw in various amounts and frequencies

Behaviour of liquid-fed growing pigs provided with straw in various amounts and frequencies

A longitudinal study of the effects of providing straw at different stages of life on tail-biting and other behaviour in commercially housed pigs

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

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