Abstract
Piglet behaviour was studied to determine the environmental factors that influence their udder-seeking activities. Neonatal behaviour with the dam was first studied in detail, and this indicated that piglets were responding to the thermal and tactile properties of the surface of the sow. Temperature and compliance measurements of the sow's surface were then taken from a number of points before, during and after farrowing. A preference-testing apparatus was constructed, mimicing the temperatures and compliances found on the sow's body surface, and the preferences of 41 piglets towards these was tested. The results clearly demonstrated that the combination of warmth and softness of the udder are attractive to, and sufficient to elicit suckling actions by, the piglet ( P<0.001).
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