Abstract
Simple SummaryAggression in pigs is a major welfare concern in the pig industry as pigs fight when mixed into new social groups. Most attempts to solve this problem have focused on reducing agonistic behavior. However, another approach could be to study positive social behaviors in pigs and examine how these relate to aggressive behaviors. Understanding the full social experience of pigs and how affiliative behaviors may mitigate aggression could lead to better selection and management of pigs. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the prevalence and change in performance of potentially affiliative behaviors in pigs after a mixing event, as well as how these behaviors relate to the amount of aggression shown. In this study, the prevalence of suspected affiliative behaviors changed for up to 9 weeks following mixing pigs into a new social group, with nosing decreasing following mixing, and play and non-agonistic contact increasing. All affiliative behaviors were negatively related to agonistic behavior at mixing but nosing and play behaviors were positively related to agonistic behavior in the weeks after mixing. Non-agonistic physical contact was consistently related to less agonistic behavior and therefore could be an indicator of positive social relationships between pigs. Further research could explore how to promote non-agonistic contact and other positive social behaviors among pigs to help reduce agonistic behaviors. This study investigated potentially affiliative behaviors in grow-finish pigs, how these behaviors changed over time and their relationship to agonistic behaviors. A total of 257 Yorkshire barrows were observed for agonistic (reciprocal fights, attacks) and affiliative (nosing, play, non-agonistic contact) behaviors after mixing (at 10 weeks of age), and weeks 3, 6, and 9 after mix. The least square means of affiliative behaviors were compared across time points. Relationships among affiliative and agonistic behaviors were assessed using generalized linear mixed models. Non-agonistic contact with conspecifics increased until week 6 then remained stable between weeks 6 and 9. Nosing was highest at mix, then decreased in the following weeks. Play was lowest at mix and highest at week 3. Affiliative behaviors were negatively related with aggression at mix (p < 0.001). Pigs who engaged in play and nosing behaviors were more likely to be involved in agonistic interactions in the weeks after mixing (p < 0.05), while pigs engaging in non-agonistic contact were less likely to be involved in agonistic interactions (p < 0.001). There appear to be relationships between affiliative and agonistic behaviors in pigs, with contact being the most predictive of less aggression. Future studies could focus on promoting positive non-agonistic contact in unfamiliar pigs as a way to mitigate aggressive interactions.
Highlights
Group housing is common in the commercial pig industry for non-breeding animals and provides a number of benefits to pigs such as increased space allowance per pig, the ability to perform more natural behaviors, and interaction with conspecifics
In a study comparing affiliative behaviors among pigs kept with littermates and those mixed with unfamiliar pigs, there were no differences in prevalence of affiliative behaviors for up to 7 weeks after weaning, pigs kept with littermates had higher growth rates than mixed pigs [9]
In the results presented here, pigs that engaged in more non-agonistic contact spent less time involved in agonistic interactions at all time points, suggesting that physical contact may be a valid measure of affiliation in pigs
Summary
Group housing is common in the commercial pig industry for non-breeding animals and provides a number of benefits to pigs such as increased space allowance per pig, the ability to perform more natural behaviors, and interaction with conspecifics. Chronic social stress can have prolonged negative effects on pig welfare, including disruptions to growth and immune function [3]. Research has focused on finding a genetic component of social aggression to allow producers to breed pigs more suitable for group housing systems [1,6,7,8]. Social genetic effects indicate a link between social behaviors and growth rate [11], having a better understanding of how pigs display affiliative behavior in stable social groups could allow breeding programs to reduce social aggression by breeding pigs that are more positively social, and able to read and respond to social cues, rather than using indicators of negative social interactions and aggression, such as skin lesions [1,6,7,8]
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