Behaviour Of Sows Research Articles

Effects of the maternal behavioral characteristics of lying down on piglet crushing in Minpig and Yorkshire sows

Maternal crushing has been shown to be the main reason for piglet losses, which occur primarily during sow posture changes. Minpig is a local breed in China with good maternal instincts and lower nursing losses. However, little is known about the behavioral reasons for Minpig sows having fewer piglet losses due to crushing. The primary aim of this study was to compare the posture change, behavioral characteristics of lying down and sow responsiveness to crushing screams between Minpig and Yorkshire sows and investigate which component of behavioral characteristics of lying down movements influenced the probability of piglet crushing. This study was performed with a total of 37 sows, including 17 Minpig and 20 Yorkshire sows. The sow’s maternal characteristics before and during lying down were recorded and a total of 962 events during 72 h postpartum were analyzed. Data were analyzed using PROC GLM and PROC GENMOD of SAS software. The results showed that no difference was observed in the frequency of postural change from standing to lying (P = 0.799), but Minpig sows showed a lower frequency of piglet crushing (P = 0.029) and a lower probability of piglets crushing death (P = 0.052) than Yorkshire sows. Minpig sows exhibited more prelying turning around behavior than Yorkshire sows (P < 0.001). The probability of piglet crushing decreased with an increased frequency of prelying turning around in Minpig sows (P = 0.038), but this effect was not seen in Yorkshire sows (P = 0.396). The duration of sow hindquarter dropping was negatively correlated with the probability of piglets crushing in both breeds (Minpig, P = 0.009; Yorkshire, P < 0.001). Compared with Yorkshire sows, Minpig sows exhibited slower hindquarter dropping when the piglets were present in the danger zone (P = 0.038). Minpig sows exhibited a higher response score and a faster reaction to real piglet crushing (P = 0.007; P = 0.032) or the playback of piglet screams (P = 0.009; P = 0.019) than Yorkshire sows. Overall, more turning around, slower hindquarter dropping and a better responsiveness to piglet screaming might represent dominant elements characterizing Minpig sow behaviors, which are more conducive to piglet survival.

13 Using Cameras to Predict Estrus and Ovulation

Abstract One of the leading challenges facing the swine industry in recent years that will likely continue has been assembling a talented work force that can consistently execute farm protocols. Talented labor is difficult to find and animal husbandry is becoming a lost art. One production task that particularly requires skill is timely detection of estrus in gilts and sows. While recruiting and training talented people must remain a priority, it is important to pursue solving these problems such as estrus detection by other means, and technology utilization offers a viable path forward. Camera technologies have the potential to not only reduce the need for skilled labor to assess signs of estrus, but improve the ability to inseminate in a timely manner prior to ovulation, which could lead to improved fertility and a reduction in total sperm per mating. Several studies have been conducted to evaluate the use of infrared thermal cameras for detecting body surface temperature changes in sows. Variations in anatomical location, external ambient temperature, skin moisture, and camera technology used all have the potential to impact the applicability of those measurements. There is some evidence in the literature that vulva surface temperature or, perhaps more interesting, its relationship with other anatomical body surface locations may offer predictability of the onset of estrus and warrants additional research. It is also generally accepted that sow behavior and activity level changes, especially in the presence of boars, during the onset of estrus. Camera technologies have the ability to continuously monitor changes in temperature and behavior and offer exciting opportunities for future development.

Inclusion of wheat aleurone in gestation diets improves postprandial satiety, stress status and stillbirth rate of sows.

This study investigated the effects of different amounts of wheat aleurone (WA) (0, 15%, 30%) inclusion in gestation diets on the reproductive performance, postprandial satiety, stress status and stereotypic behaviors of sows. A total of 84 Landrace × Yorkshire sows (parity 4.87 ± 1.32) at breeding were randomly allotted to one of the three isoenergetic and isonitrogenous dietary treatments based on parity and body weight. The results showed that, compared with the control (0), sows fed the WA diet had a higher serum concentration of peptide YY (PYY) (P < 0.05) and glucagon like peptide-1 (GLP-1) (P < 0.05) and a lower concentration of saliva cortisol (P < 0.01). Importantly, compared with the control group, only the 15% WA group had a higher concentration of the total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) (P < 0.05), lower proportions of sitting (P = 0.05) and stillbirth rates (P < 0.01). Accordingly, the production cost per piglet born alive ($ 6.9 vs. $ 7.6) or per piglet born healthy ($ 7.4 vs. $ 7.9) declined in the 15% WA group versus the control group. Overall, 15% WA inclusion in gestation diets contributed to enhancing postprandial satiety, alleviating stress status and decreasing stillbirth rate of sows. This study provides a reference for the application of WA as a partial substitute for conventional feed ingredients to improve sows’ reproductive performance.

Behavioral and stress responses to feeding time in pregnant sows under limit-fed regime.

We investigated the effect of feeding time on behavior and stress responses in pregnant sows under isocaloric conditions. Twenty-four sows were balanced for parity and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 feeding times. Corn–soybean meal-based diet was fed once at: 0730 (Control, T1), 1130 (T2), and 1530 hours (T3). On average, sows received 7,062 kcal ME/d from 2.20 kg of diet formulated to contain SID Lys/ME of 1.71 g/Mcal. The study was conducted for 28 d (21 d acclimation to the feeding regime and 7 d data collection). Saliva samples were collected every 2 hr for 12 hr in stalls on day 52 of pregnancy. Behavior data were collected 24 hr for 7 d from day 53 of gestating by affixing a remote insights ear tag to each sow. Each sow had 120,960 data points categorized into: “Active,” “Feed,” or “Dormant”. Due to housing constraint, all sows were housed in individual stalls in the same barn presenting a potential limitation of the study. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED and GLIMMIX procedures of SAS 9.4 for cortisol and behavior data, respectively. Sow was the experimental unit. The area under the curve (AUC) is quantitative evaluation of response as threshold varies over all possible values. A 12-hr cortisol total AUC for sows fed once daily at 1130 hours was reduced relative to sow group fed at 1530 hours (P = 0.046) but similar compared with the control sows (P = 0. 323). The control sows (0730 hours) had reduced total (P < 0.001) and feeding (P = 0.001) activity AUCs relative to sows on 1130 hours but did not differ compared with sows on 1530 hours feeding schedules (P > 0.100). Sows on 1130 hours feeding schedule had greater feed anticipatory activity, 24-hr total activity count, total (P < 0.001) and feeding (P < 0.001) activity AUC compared with sows fed daily at 1530 hours. In conclusion, feeding pregnant sows earlier in the morning (0730 hours) appears to minimize sows’ behavior but similar cortisol response. Sows on 1130 hours feeding schedule had greater activities but reduced cortisol concentration, suggesting that elevated sow activity might not necessarily indicate activation of hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis.

Foraging behaviour of gestating sows on pasture and damages to vegetation cover are influenced by restriction of concentrate feed

One of the main challenges of outdoor pig production systems is their potential environmental impact due to direct deposition of pigs’ excreta on the land that can lead to nitrate leaching. However, plants can recycle nutrients, and a sufficient vegetation cover can mitigate adverse environmental impacts of outdoor pigs. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of concentrate feed restriction on gestating sows foraging behaviour and ensuing damages caused to vegetation cover in a pasture-based system. Ten groups of three sows were randomly assigned to two concentrate feed levels, supplying either 90 % (P90) or 40 % (P40) of metabolizable energy requirements, from week 5 of gestation until farrowing. All groups of sows were housed at a density of 8 sows/ha in a rotational pasture system including a permanent area and three 25 × 50-m legume-grass pasture plots, which could be accessed in rotation for periods of 2–3 weeks. Posture and location of sows were assessed at weeks 8–9, 12–13 and 15 of gestation using data loggers. During the same weeks, video recordings were made when the sows were at pasture, in order to determine their time spent foraging. Vegetation cover of pasture plots was determined at the beginning and end of the grazing periods using a method based on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle-acquired image processing. In the second half of gestation, P40 sows spent 60 % more time active on pasture than P90 sows during the daytime (P < 0.01). The feeding level did not influence the number of daily visits to pasture plots, but P40 sows spent more time on pasture and travelled longer distances per visit than P90 sows. While at pasture, P90 sows spent more time rooting (P < 0.001) and less time grazing (P = 0.002) than P40 sows. In pasture plots with P90 sows, an increasing proportion of bare soil was observed over time, whereas in P40 plots, a greater proportion of high vegetation was replaced by medium vegetation. These results indicate that a higher concentrate restriction promoted grazing behaviour in pregnant sows, leading to greater disappearance of high vegetation but not to greater vegetation cover destruction. In contrast, the lower concentrate restriction increased the proportion of rooting activity, leading to greater damage to vegetation cover. In conclusion, this study has shown that concentrate feeding level of gestating sows on pasture can be reduced without adverse effects on pasture vegetation cover.

A computer vision-based approach for behavior recognition of gestating sows fed different fiber levels during high ambient temperature.

The objectives of this study were to evaluate convolutional neural network models and computer vision techniques for the classification of swine posture with high accuracy and to use the derived result in the investigation of the effect of dietary fiber level on the behavioral characteristics of the pregnant sow under low and high ambient temperatures during the last stage of gestation. A total of 27 crossbred sows (Yorkshire × Landrace; average body weight, 192.2 ± 4.8 kg) were assigned to three treatments in a randomized complete block design during the last stage of gestation (days 90 to 114). The sows in group 1 were fed a 3% fiber diet under neutral ambient temperature; the sows in group 2 were fed a diet with 3% fiber under high ambient temperature (HT); the sows in group 3 were fed a 6% fiber diet under HT. Eight popular deep learning-based feature extraction frameworks (DenseNet121, DenseNet201, InceptionResNetV2, InceptionV3, MobileNet, VGG16, VGG19, and Xception) used for automatic swine posture classification were selected and compared using the swine posture image dataset that was constructed under real swine farm conditions. The neural network models showed excellent performance on previously unseen data (ability to generalize). The DenseNet121 feature extractor achieved the best performance with 99.83% accuracy, and both DenseNet201 and MobileNet showed an accuracy of 99.77% for the classification of the image dataset. The behavior of sows classified by the DenseNet121 feature extractor showed that the HT in our study reduced (p < 0.05) the standing behavior of sows and also has a tendency to increase (p = 0.082) lying behavior. High dietary fiber treatment tended to increase (p = 0.064) lying and decrease (p < 0.05) the standing behavior of sows, but there was no change in sitting under HT conditions.

Effects of cooled floor pads combined with chilled drinking water on behavior and performance of lactating sows under heat stress.

This study was conducted to evaluate whether cooled floor pads combined with chilled drinking water could alleviate negative impacts of heat stress on lactating sows. Thirty sows (Landrace × Yorkshire, Parity = 1 to 6) were housed in individual farrowing stalls in two rooms with temperatures being controlled at 29.4°C (0700-1900 hours) and 23.9°C (1900-0700 hours). Sows in one room (Cool), but not in the other room (Control) were provided cooled floor pads (21-22°C) and chilled drinking water (13-15°C). Behavior of sows (15 sows/treatment) was video recorded during farrowing, and days 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 after farrowing. Videos were viewed continuously to register the birth time of each piglet, from which total farrowing duration and birth intervals were calculated. The number of drinking bouts and the duration of each drinking bout were registered for each sow through viewing videos continuously for 2 h (1530-1730 hours) each video-recording day. Postures (lying laterally, lying ventrally, sitting, and standing) were recorded by scanning video recordings at 5-min intervals for 24 h each video-recording day, and time budget for each posture was calculated. Rectal temperature and respiration rate were measured for all sows the day before and after farrowing, and then once weekly. Sow and litter performance was recorded. Data were analyzed using the Glimmix procedure of SAS. The cooling treatment did not affect sow behavior or litter performance. Sows in the Cool room had lower rectal temperature (P = 0.03) and lower respiration rate (P < 0.001), consumed more feed (P = 0.03), tended to have reduced weight loss (P = 0.07), and backfat loss (P = 0.07) during lactation than sows in the Control room. As lactation progressed, sows increased drinking frequency (P < 0.001) and time spent lying ventrally (P < 0.0001), standing (P < 0.001), and sitting (P < 0.0001), and decreased time spent lying laterally (P < 0.0001) in both Cool and Control rooms. While cooled floor pads combined with chilled drinking water did not affect sow behavior, they did alleviate heat stress partially, as indicated by decreased rectal temperature, respiration rate, weight, and backfat loss, and increased feed intake in lactating sows.

Effects of Positive Human Contact during Gestation on the Behaviour, Physiology and Reproductive Performance of Sows.

Simple SummaryStress can compromise animal welfare and impact the productivity of farm animals. In intensive production systems where close interactions between stockpeople and animals occur regularly, human contact of a positive nature may facilitate stress resilience. This experiment studied the effects of human interaction on stress in pigs, by providing sows in their home pens with either regular positive handling by stockpeople or routine human contact. Stress resilience was studied by assessing the behaviour, physiology and productivity of pigs in these two treatments. Positive human contact was effective at reducing the fear responses of sows towards stockpeople conducting routine husbandry practices in the home pens. However, the positive handling treatment did not affect the behaviour of pigs towards other stressors imposed outside of the home pen, acute or basal physiological measures of stress or reproductive performance. Sows receiving positive handling showed reduced physical interaction with the stockpeople delivering the treatment over time, which may indicate habituation to the novel or possible rewarding elements of the human contact treatment. This work confirms that regular positive interaction with stockpeople does reduce the fear of sows to stockpeople, but does not always confer stress resilence.Previous positive interactions with humans may ameliorate the stress response of farm animals to aversive routine practices such as painful or stressful procedures, particularly those associated with stockpeople. We studied the effects of positive handling by providing younger (parity 1–2) and older (parity 3–8) sows housed in pens of fifteen (n = 24 pens in total) with either positive human contact (+HC) or routine human contact (control) during gestation. The +HC treatment involved a familiar stockperson patting and scratching sows and was imposed at a pen-level for 2 min daily. Measurements studied included behavioural, physiological and productivity variables. The +HC sows showed reduced avoidance of the stockperson conducting pregnancy testing and vaccination in the home pens, however the behavioural and cortisol responses of sows in a standard unfamiliar human approach test did not differ. There were no effects of +HC on aggression between sows, serum cortisol or serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor concentrations during gestation, or on the behavioural and cortisol response to being moved to farrowing crates. There were also no effects of +HC on the maternal responsiveness of sows, farrowing rate or the number of piglets born alive, stillborn or weaned. Sows in the +HC pens reduced their physical interaction with the stockpeople imposing the treatment after 2 weeks, which suggests the sows may have habituated to the novel or possible rewarding elements of the handling treatment. This experiment shows that regular positive interaction with stockpeople does reduce sows’ fear of stockpeople, but does not always confer stress resilence.

Effects of heat stress on posture transitions and reproductive performance of primiparous sows during late gestation.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of heat stress on posture transitions of perinatal primiparous sows around the parturition period from 72h prepartum to 24h postpartum. The reproductive performance of sows was measured, and the relationship between posture transitions and reproductive performance was also analyzed. Ten primiparous sows were randomly assigned to thermoneutral (TN) (18-22°C; n=5) or heat stress (HS) (28-32°C; n=5) treatments. Posture transitioning, including the frequency of posture change, duration of dynamic posture (DP), and lateral lying with udder to the piglet creep box (PCB) during three periods (72h prepartum, sub-partum, and 24h postpartum, respectively), were recorded. Posture change frequency was significantly increased, starting from 24h prepartum to the onset of farrowing in both the TN (P<0.05) and HS (P<0.01) groups. Moreover, the peak value of posture change frequency in the TN group was concentrated during the 12h prepartum period, positively correlated with the quantities of head-first birth piglets and sub-partum duration, respectively. DP duration increased during the period of 24h prepartum and then decreased sharply (P<0.001 and P<0.05 for TN and HS groups, respectively). The duration of facing the udder to the PCB increased during sub-partum and postpartum TN (P<0.001). The duration of sub-partum (P<0.05) and delivery time of single piglets (P<0.01) in the HS group was prolonged, and piglets from the HS group had a lower weight gain than the TN group both at d10 (P<0.001) and weaning time (P<0.001). In conclusion, HS had obvious adverse effects on nursery behavior and reproductive abilities in perinatal primiparous sows, which resulted in poor growth performance of lactating piglets.

Dietary Fiber Source and Length of Feeding Partitions Differentially Affected Behavior, Immune Status, and Productivity of Group-Housed Dry Sows

Aggression is one of the major welfare concerns among group-housed sows, especially during feeding and regrouping. There are no simple solutions, but any attempt to reduce aggression should be considered. Therefore, the aim was to reduce aggression among group-housed gestating sows by feeding sows different dietary fiber using individual feeding places made from either short- or long-length partitions. Five blocks (n = 36 sows/block) of primiparous and multiparous sows were fed a dietary treatment of either 30% wheat middlings and 15% soybean hulls (MIDD-SY) or 30% distillers dried grains and 30% corn germ meal (DDGS-GM) and housed in pens (9 sows/pen) with individual feeding partitions that were either shoulder (short) or full-body (long) in length. Sow behavior, skin lesions, immune status, and performance were measured. Sow behavior, including aggression and lesion severity scores, were mainly affected by partition length. Aggressive encounters were greater and remained elevated among sows in pens with short partitions until 9 weeks post-grouping but were reduced among sows in pens with long partitions by 3 weeks. During feeding, sows in pens with short ones were more likely to be displaced than were those in pens with long ones. Percentages of time spent lying, standing, eating, and oral–nasal–facial behaviors were also differentially influenced by partition length. Dietary fiber differentially influenced immune status and productivity. For example, sows fed MIDD-SY had higher lymphocyte proliferation and increased neutrophils, while those fed DDGS-GM had deeper backfat and weaned heavier piglets. Overall, the length of the feeding partitions influenced the aggressive encounters, other behaviors, and lesion scores; in turn, the fibrous source differentially influenced several immune measures and sow productivity.

Influence of creep feeder position on the behavior and performance of preweaning piglets and sows in a hot climate environment.

The use of creep feeding for preweaning piglets is important to improve the performance of the piglets. The objective of this experiment was evaluate the effect of using or altering the position of piglet's creep feeder during lactation on piglet's performance and on behavior of piglets and sows kept in a hot climate environment. Forty-five sows and their litters at 10 days of lactation were randomly distributed into three treatments: front feeder (FF) - near the side of the sow's head; back feeder (BF) - near the side of the rump of the sow; and no feeder (NF). All piglets were weighed individually to evaluate the average weight, weight gain and coefficient of variation of the weight. Behavior assessments of the piglets and sows were recorded in 3 period. At 15 and 21 d, piglets of the FF treatment were heavier (P ≤ 0.0001) than piglets of the other treatments. At 10-21d piglets of FF treatment had 76.2% less belly nosing behavior than the NF piglets (P=0.015). The treatments had no impact on behavior of the sows. The creep feeders positioned in the front of the farrowing crate increased piglet growth rate and decreased frequency of belly nosing behavior.

Behavior Recognition and Maternal Ability Evaluation for Sows Based on Triaxial Acceleration and Video Sensors

To reduce the high pre-weaning mortality rate of new-born piglets crushed by sows, a kind of recognition and evaluation method for sows’ behavior based on the scheme of time-sharing and multiplexing by adopting triaxial acceleration and video sensors at day and night is proposed in this paper. For darker scene at night, random forest classifier with optimal 43-dimensional feature vector subset proposed in this paper is adopted to recognize four kinds of macro behaviors of sows roughly by adopting triaxial acceleration sensor MPU6050. The recognition rate can reach 89.4%. For brighter light scene during the day, an improved bilinear convolutional neural network method based on CBAM module is proposed in this paper to recognize seven kinds of micro behaviors of sows by video sensor. The recognition rate can reach 84.4%. The methods proposed in this paper can meet the requirement of real-time to recognize the behavior of sows during 24 hours on the premise of ensuring accuracy. Finally, an evaluation model of sows’ maternal behavior level is set up in this paper. The achivement of the study can not only help the farm to select sows with higher maternal ability for breeding piglets, but also avoid the large-scale economic losses caused by the high mortality rate of piglets before weaning of the farm.

PSV-21 The behavior, physiology and immunity of pregnant sows housed in individual crate with different frequency of sham-chewing

Abstract The sham-chewing behavior indicates the poor welfare of sows and quite frequently occurs in confined environment. To evaluate the behavior, physiology and immunity of pregnant sows with different frequency of sham-chewing, 63 sows (Large White × Landrace) housed in individual gestation crate were divided into the high (H), middle (M) and low (L) frequency groups based on the sham-chewing frequency analyzed by Hierarchical cluster using SPSS 20.0 systems. The behavioral data, including sham-chewing, standing, sitting, ventral lying, lateral lying, bar-biting and rooting, was observed in early, middle and late pregnancy (days 26–27, 61–62 and 91–92) of the sows. Serum CRP, IL-10 and IFN-γ contents were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The results showed that the frequency of sham-chewing significantly reduced with the increase of the pregnancy period (P &amp;lt; 0.001) and the difference among three groups was significant in early and middle pregnancy (P &amp;lt; 0.001). Standing behavior in Group H and M decreased significantly (P = 0.004; P = 0.020). Sitting, ventral lying and lateral lying behaviors were significantly lower in early pregnancy than those in late pregnancy (P &amp;lt; 0.05). In late pregnancy, bar-biting of Group H was significantly increased (P = 0.018), while rooting was decreased (P = 0.033). The CRP level was significantly higher in Group H than L in middle pregnancy (P = 0.031). The IFN-γ level was significantly lower in Group H (P &amp;lt; 0.05). In late pregnancy, IL-10 level was significantly higher in group H and M than L (P &amp;lt; 0.05). Therefore, the pregnant sows with different frequency of sham-chewing showed differences in standing and lateral lying behaviors. The expression of sham-chewing reflects the higher level of stress and lower level of immunity and may indicate the maladaptation of pregnancy sows to the confined environment.

PSV-6 Effects of chilled drinking water and cooled floor pads on behavior of lactating sows under heat stress

Abstract This study was conducted to evaluate effects of chilled drinking water and cooled floor pads on behavior of lactating sows under heat stress. Sows were housed in individual farrowing stalls in two rooms with temperatures being controlled at 29.4°C (0700h to 1900h) and 23.9°C (1900h to 0700h). Sows in one room (treatment), but not in the other room (control) were provided with chilled drinking water (13 to 15°C) and cooled floor pads (15 to 18°C). Behavior of sows (n=15 sows/treatment; parity=1 to 6) was video recorded during farrowing, and d 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 after farrowing. Videos were viewed to register birth time of each piglet. Number of drinking bouts and duration of each bout were registered for 2 h (1530h to 1730h) each day after farrowing. Postures (lying laterally, lying ventrally, sitting, and standing) were recorded by scanning video-recordings at 5-min intervals for 24 h each day after farrowing, and time budget for each posture was calculated. Data were analyzed using the Glimmix Procedure of SAS. No effect of treatment was detected for litter size born, farrowing duration, or birth interval (P &amp;gt;0.33; Table 1). Neither frequency nor duration of drinking bouts was affected by treatment (P &amp;gt;0.27). No significant difference was observed in time budget for each posture (P &amp;gt;0.46) between treatment and control groups. As lactation progressed, sows increased drinking frequency (from 1.2 drinks/2h on d 1 to 4.9 drinks/2h on d 21; P&amp;lt; 0.001) and time spent lying ventrally (8% to 14%; P&amp;lt; 0.0001), standing (4% to 10%; P&amp;lt; 0.001), and sitting (2% to 4%; P&amp;lt; 0.0001), and decreased time spent lying laterally (86% to 67%; P&amp;lt; 0.0001) in both control and treatment rooms. These results indicate that chilled drinking water and cooled floor pads did not affect behavior of sows during farrowing and lactation in the current study.

PSI-16 Investigation of Jute to Stimulate Sow Nesting Behavior in Farrowing Crates

Abstract Domesticated sows are highly motivated to perform nesting behavior prior to farrowing. However, due to the potential for clogging slurry systems, large amounts of nesting material are not practical to use in most production systems. Therefore, the study objective was to assess an alternative nesting material provided prior to farrowing on sow welfare and reproductive outcomes. We hypothesized that the provision of jute nesting material would decrease sow stress and improve reproductive outcomes. Twenty-one sows were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 treatments: farrowing crate with jute nesting material (n = 11; 40.64 x 21.59 cm) or farrowing crate without nesting material (n=10). Three overlapping jute pieces were attached to the front of the crate to prevent substrate from falling through the slatted floors and disrupting the slurry system. Sows had access to the jute from the time they were moved into the crates (112.4 ± 0.5 d of gestation) until the end of farrowing. Saliva samples were collected, as a non-invasive way to measure cortisol and immunoglobulin A (IgA) to assess stress, on d -1, 0, 1, and 2 relative to farrowing, and a final sample was collected at weaning. Video was continuously coded for observations of jute-oriented interactions. Data were analyzed as GLM using JMP. In the 12 h prior to farrowing, sows spent an average of 30.02 ± 33.12 min interacting with the jute. Although the sows appear to interact with the material, farrowing duration, number of stillborns, IgA, and cortisol did not differ between treatments (P &amp;gt; 0.05). In summary, the treatment was likely not robust enough to satiate the sows’ nest-building needs. Therefore, alternative nesting materials that provide a better outlet for sow behavior, while avoiding negative effects on the slurry system, or ways to present that material should be evaluated to improve sow welfare.

Access to chewable materials during lactation affects sow behaviour and interaction with piglets

We investigated how providing chewable materials to piglets during the early weeks of life affect sow behaviour, sow and piglet interaction and sow health in pens with farrowing crates.We divided 59 pregnant sows into two treatment groups: the Control group (C, n = 29) and the Rope-Paper group (RP, n = 30). Piglets in the C group had the minimum enrichment required by Finnish legislation. For the RP group, we added sisal ropes and non-glossy newsprint paper. We recorded the behaviour of sows and their litters for a four-hour period during the first 7–18 days of life of the piglets. Skin and udder damage of the sow was recorded once a week five times. Behavioural data was divided into two categories according to the age of the litters. The first group contained litters aged from 7 to 13 days (n(RP) = 22 n(C) = 22) and the second group litters aged 14 days or older (n(RP) = 24 n(C) = 24).Younger piglets (age 7–13 days) in the RP group manipulated the udder more frequently (p < 0.01) and the duration of udder manipulation was longer than in the C group (p = 0.02). Further, the RP group had more udder contact events in which 20 % or less of the piglets took part and in which less than 50 % took part (p < 0.01 for both).Older piglets (age ≥ 14 days) in the RP group touched the sows’ body more frequently (p < 0.05).Sows in the C group were standing (p = 0.01), eating (p = 0.04) and performing oral-nasal manipulation (p < 0.01) more often.In the C group, repeated measures of skin lesions differed significantly between observation days (p = 0.00), sows tending to have a higher skin lesion score in observation week 5, with a median score of 1.5 (1–3), than in observation week 4, with a median score of 1 (1–2) (p = 0.06).In conclusion, piglets that had access to chewable materials after birth made more contact with the sow during lactation. However, sows in the C groupperformed more active behaviour. The behavioural mechanisms underlying these changes are not yet clear. Further investigations of the usage of chewable materials in farrowing units equipped with crates and their effects on the behaviour of sows and piglets are therefore warranted.

Endocrine regulation of periparturient behaviour in pigs

Pigs begin behavioural preparations for birth about 1-2 days before parturition. Prepartum sows wander to select a suitable site and then construct a maternal nest. The signal that initiates this behavioural cascade probably results from fetal maturation but is unknown. However, endogenous PGF2a appears to be involved early on in an endocrine pathway that projects to the brain and can generate most of the prepartum behavioural components. This period of intense activity is followed by a quiescent phase of lying in the nest for some hours before fetal ejection occurs. Feedback from a completed nest or abdominal discomfort may both contribute to the end of nest building. In the postpartum phase, sows have to deal with the apparently conflicting drives of remaining passive to reduce accidental or deliberate damage to piglets, while at the same time responding actively to their needs. In commercial environments, animals frequently fail in this task. Although environmental influences on piglet survival have received much experimental attention, the genetic, social and endocrine drives that control sow behaviour after parturition remain poorly understood and their clarification is a major challenge for the future

Sows' responses to increased heat load - A review.

There is a comprehensive body of literature on how increased air temperature affects the physiology, production and behaviour of sows, while very few studies consider the thermal effects of air humidity and air velocity. This review summarises studies that have investigated effects of air temperature by reviewing published literature in which sows were exposed to at least two different levels of air temperature ranging from 15°C to 39°C. Increased rectal temperature was investigated in the majority of the studies (26) and on average, the rectal temperature increased by 0.099°C per °C increased air temperature above 25°C. The increase was smaller at lower air temperatures, and it was suggested that rectal temperature is practically unaffected by air temperatures in the range of 15°C-21°C. This review elucidates how air temperature also affects performance indicators such as respiration rate, vaginal temperature, skin temperature, feed intake, milk yield, body weight loss during lactation, mortality, litter daily weight gain during lactation and sow behaviour. One study reported how respiration rate, rectal temperature, vaginal temperature and skin temperature were affected by both air temperature and air humidity, and the results suggest that the relative significance of air temperature and humidity may be similar for sows and finishing pigs (e.g. an increase of 40% relative humidity at an air temperature of 30°C has a similar effect as a 1.9°C increase in temperature). Studies on mitigation methods against the effects of high temperature and humidity such as snout cooling, drip cooling and floor cooling were reviewed to extract knowledge related to the effects of air velocity, temperatures of surrounding surfaces and the opportunity for sows to moisten their skin.

Handling and moving cull sows upon arrival at the slaughterhouse—Effects of small versus larger groups of sows

In modern pig production up to 50 % of the sows are slaughtered each year. So far, only few studies have focused on how sows are handled and moved within slaughterhouses. We examined effects of group size on the behaviour of sows and the ease of moving them from the entrance of a slaughterhouse and towards the lairage pens. The study included 30 truck loads of cull sows (and a few breeding boars, as they were transported to slaughter together with the sows; 1917 sows and 55 boars). The sows were transported between 4.2–7.5 hours in fully air-suspended two-deck trucks, approved for transport of sows. Half of the loads were moved from the trucks as full loads (32−95 sows per load), the other half split into smaller groups of 5–6 sows. The behaviour of sows and handlers was observed directly, while they were entering the slaughterhouse and walked along a downward sloping concrete aisle measuring 1.1 m (width) and 13.2 m (length) ramp, approaching a 90° corner on the way to the lairage pens.Differences in the behaviour of the handlers between the two treatments were minor, but moving sows in smaller groups did, contrarily to our expectations, prolong the duration of the procedure, probably due to the sorting into smaller groups onboard of the truck. The results confirmed that passing a corner may constitute an obstacle for the ease of moving sows, especially when they were moved as full loads, as a higher proportion of these sows stopped or blocked the aisle near the corner, than the sows moved in smaller groups. In addition, a higher proportion of the sows moved as full loads turned 180° against the direction of intended movement. In conclusion, modulation of the group size of sows upon arrival at a slaughterhouse affected their behaviour and the ease of movement. Further studies are needed to examine cost-benefit of low group size when moving sows in terms of animal welfare, human well-being and logistics.

The effect of two different farrowing systems on sow behaviour, and piglet behaviour, mortality and growth

Farrowing crates have traditionally been used to reduce occurrence of piglet mortality as a result of sow crushing. However the utilisation of traditional farrowing crates has been suggested to contribute to negative welfare for both the sow and piglets.This study compared mortality rates, weight gain and behaviour of two cohorts, Freedom Farrowing (FF) and Traditional Farrowing (TF), of sows at a commercial farm. Results indicated no significant difference in mortality rates (2-sample t-test, t24 = −0.08, p = 0.761) between systems or in weight gain of piglets (batch 1: 2-sample t-test, t12=−0.01, p = 0.993; batch 2: 2-sample t-test, t12=−0.12, p = 0.904). Behaviour of sows indicated a number of significant differences between FF and TF cohorts including TF sows spending more time lying down, χ2 (2, N = 24) = 5.69, p = 0.017 and FF sows spending more time nursing their piglets χ2 (1, N = 24) = 6.66, p = 0.01, socialising with their piglets χ2 (2, N = 24) = 12, p = 0.001 and exploring the pen χ2 (2, N = 24) = 6, p = 0.014.TF piglets spent more time lying away from the sow (lying elsewhere) χ2 (2, N = 24) = 4.78, p = 0.029 and engaging in agonistic behaviours with other piglets χ2 (2, N = 24) = 4.76, p = 0.029, whilst FF piglets spent more time feeding from the sow χ2 (1, N = 24) = 63.18, p < 0.001 and playing with other piglets χ2 (2, N = 24) = 4.37, p = 0.036.As farmed production animals it is important that management changes to improve welfare consider both economic impacts and effect on production time; the results of this study demonstrate that both mortality rates and weight gain of piglets are comparable between the two systems giving an overall advantage to the implementation of Free Farrowing pens in a pig production environment.