Influence of floor type and surface temperature on the thermoregulatory behaviour of growing pigs

Abstract

Despite the application of environmental engineering and control of air temperature within houses for intensively kept pigs, health and behavioural related problems are still observed which reduce the profit of the producer. Since these problems are influenced by the environment within a pen, an examination has been made of the possibilities of controlling floor temperature which must influence the micro-climate within the pig pen. The first objective of these experiments was to influence the behaviour of the pigs so that they did not lie in the dunging area during the growing period. The second was to find a relationship between floor surface temperature and the temperature of the water feeding the floor; the water temperature is easy to measure and control when pigs are present, but floor temperature is not. A series of experiments was set up with growing pigs (10 to 30 kg) within climatic rooms, in which air temperature, air velocity and floor temperature were controlled. The air flow pattern was the same for all rooms and for all experiments. The lying behaviour, feed intake and growth rate were studied in relation to the above environmental parameters. The results show that the preferred floor surface temperature is dependent on pig age and not on the nature of the floor itself. It was found possible to quantify the relationship between water and floor surface temperature, and the time it took for the floor temperature to reach a steady value. Floor surface temperature depended both on the temperature of the water feeding the floor and on the floor material itself.