Crushing Of Piglets Research Articles

From farrowing to weaning — the ethological approach in a new integrated system for pigs

Crushing of piglets can be a major problem in loose-housing farrowing systems. In this study, we investigated the influence of straw of different lengths provided as nest-building material, sow behaviour and room temperature on the incidence of dangerous situations for the piglets. Piglets were defined as in danger of being crushed if they were trapped by the sow's body or if they jumped aside in response to the lying down or rolling behaviour of the sow.The behaviour of 22 Large White sows and their piglets was video-recorded from 10 h before farrowing until 72 h afterwards. The sows were kept in loose farrowing pens equipped with a creep area and a heating lamp. For a period of 5 days (48 h before the expected farrowing until 72 h after farrowing) 11 sows each had access to either 2 kg of long-stemmed straw or 2 kg of short-cut straw provided on the floor.Sows in pens with short-cut straw manipulated the pen equipment more frequently during the 10 h before farrowing than sows in pens with long-stemmed straw (P = 0.02). The number of dangerous situations was associated positively with the time the sow spent nest-building during farrowing (P < 0.01) and with the occurrence of events in which she laid down laterally without leaning against a wall and with more than two piglets present during the first 3 days after farrowing (P = 0.04). The incidence of dangerous situations also decreased over the first days after farrowing (P < 0.001), increased with the time the sow spent moving around before lying down (P = 0.04), and was inversely related to the duration of the lying-down movement (P = 0.05). Moreover, the more piglets there were present during a lying-down movement the higher was the incidence (P = 0.02), especially if they were not grouped on only one side of the sow's body (P = 0.03). Room temperature was associated positively with the time it took the piglets to get to the creep area after birth (P = 0.01) and negatively with the time they spent there (P = 0.02) but did not affect the incidence of dangerous situations. Straw length had no significant influence on the total pre-weaning piglet mortality or the proportion of piglets crushed.In conclusion, we found that sow behaviour was hardly affected by straw length but had a major influence on the occurrence of situations with a risk of crushing piglets.

Evaluation of different feeding strategies for the lactating sow

Feeding strategies for the lactating sow must aim to achieve high piglet survival and growth rates and maximise subsequent reproductive performance of the sow. Feeding less frequently and feeding ad libitum may be ways of reducing disturbance and crushing of piglets, enhancing milk yield and maintaining sow body condition to enhance subsequent performance. High protein diets may encourage sows to utilise body fat reserves for milk production without compromising rebreeding. This experiment was designed to investigate these possibilities in commercial practice.100 Camborough hybrid sows were allocated to one of 4 dietary treatments:1)ration fed with the daily allocation divided between two feeds2)ration fed with the total daily allocation given in one feed3)fed ad libitum on the standard diet (CP 150 g/kg)4)fed ad libitum on a high protein diet (CP 180 g/kg).The feeding scale for the ration fed sows, based on commercial farm practice, was as follows: 2.5 kg on days 1-3, 3.5 kg on days 4-5, 5.0 kg on days 6-9 and 7.0 kg/day thereafter.The experimental diets were based on barley and soya, with the higher protein diet obtained by substituting an additional 75 g/kg of barley with soyabean meal.

Preliminary trials of a sound-activated device to reduce crushing of piglets by sows

The device, marketed under the trade name ELARM, consisted of two microphones mounted on the frame of farrowing crates at piglet level, electronic circuitry that analyzed the sound and a belt with electrodes that was placed on the heart girth of the sow. When a squeal with appropriate characteristics was detected by the circuitry, a shock was automatically administered to the sow via the electrodes. Five litters equipped with ELARM were continuously observed until 36 h post-farrowing for each of two replications. When an appropriate shock was administered, either automatically by ELARM or when triggered by people, sows showed an immediate increase in responsiveness to squealing piglets. ELARM was observed to save 0.5 piglets per litter, though more piglets may have been saved because of to the increased responsiveness and caution displayed by the sows. The sows received an average of one shock each, stimulated by the squeal of piglets fighting, and one triggered by people rescuing piglets being lain upon. Only once was a sow shocked as a result of extraneous noise. The device has the potential to make a reduction in piglets crushed, especially in facilities where crushing is considered a major problem. However, its use could also cause a potential animal welfare problem if people utilizing it are not conscientious in their adjustment of the unit to an optimal level of stimulation that minimizes both unwarranted shocks and the amount of shock delivered.

The pig: A model for discussing animal behaviour and welfare

In this contribution, the pig has been chosen as a typical example of a farm animal of which the wellbeing has been impaired by intensification of farm animal husbandry. Wellbeing principally refers to the individual animal. This does apply to pigs, but not, for instance, to chickens as these are generally only looked upon as a group. Other reasons for picking the pig are the large variety of housing systems and the large scale of behavioural and physical abnormalities, making this species a typical victim of intensive farming systems, closely confining sows in individual stalls. In the 1960s we were faced with three great problems: cannibalism, transport death due to stress and crushing of piglets; locomotion disturbances and reduced fertility were added. However, it was not until 1974 that welfare problems were openly discussed and only after 1980 could some practicable improvements be presented. Now, at the end of the 1980s, we are still facing a lot of problems regarding the welfare of pigs. There is the barren environment, the inability to groom themselves, the inability to prepare for farrowing in a proper way and the inability to practise the “five freedoms of movement” previously demanded by the Brambell Committee in 1965. Also, the number of diseases in pigs has increased considerably. Although we do know the reason for cannibalism, we restrict ourselves by reducing the symptoms; nearly all pigs in Europe have docked tails and clipped teeth! We have now arrived on the verge of introducing a new system in pig husbandry: group housing of sows. This development has been made possible by using computerized feeding systems with a transponder on each sow. At the moment, this system has not been properly sorted out. However, there are possibilities for improvements. Our ethical approach should be to regard it as our duty to solve the welfare problems of these new systems and not act as we did at the introduction of intensive farming systems; restricting ourselves to reducing the symptoms until the economic profits had been secured. The opportunities for really solving problems are still open, because of the interest of producers of computerized equipment and because of the interest of consumers who consider the method of production of animal products as a matter of quality. Both groups are prepared to pay for improvements. Research has a duty to respond to this challenge. Applied ethology, especially should use the knowledge obtained over the last 25 years for improving the husbandry systems which are introduced now. Thus the future for farm animals, in general, and for pigs, in particular, is more promising than it has ever been over the last three decades.