Sow behaviour towards humans during standard management procedures and their relationship to piglet survival

Abstract

Piglet crushing remains a major problem in pig production and is partly related to sow behavioural traits. The sows’ responses to the presence of humans around farrowing could partly contribute to piglet crushing through increased reactivity and getting up and lying down behaviour. The aim of the study was to determine if the sows’ behaviour observed during standard management procedures during gestation and after farrowing can be related with their reproductive performance including crushing levels. One hundred sows originating from a selection unit were observed before expected farrowing on their fear (withdrawal) response to human presence at feeding and their ease of transfer to the farrowing unit. After farrowing, their reaction was observed (latency to change position, number of postural changes) during a 5 min period of piglet handling (tattooing, tail cutting) and through the number of postural changes for the next 3 h. Parity influenced most of the behaviour observed during gestation, but not after farrowing. A high withdrawal response of sows tended to be correlated with higher transfer speed to the farrowing unit ( P = 0.10), was correlated with a shorter latency to change position and with more postural changes during piglet handling ( P < 0.05), and was correlated with higher crushing levels ( P < 0.05). Little effort needed for transfer and high transfer speed were to some extent associated with higher crushing levels ( P = 0.10 and P < 0.01). Latency to change posture during piglet handling was negatively correlated with the frequency of postural changes during piglet handling and the number of behavioural acts shown during this handling ( P < 0.01). No significant correlation was found between the number of postural changes after farrowing and crushing levels. No clear significant correlations were found between the different behavioural observations and the number of live-born and stillborn piglets. Although overall significant correlations are low, these results suggest that behavioural responses observed during standard management procedures can be related to piglet survival. Therefore, some of the behavioural observations could be used as selection criteria in order to improve sows’ reproductive performance.