8. Pig behaviour and welfare Flashcards
importance of smell for pigs
– Highly sensitive and dominant sense along with hearing
– Wide range of olfactory cues: recognizing dam & teat position; individual identities
– Can be used to increase palatability of feeds
- Pheromones
– Maternal
– Androstenone (boar saliva)
importance of hearing for pigs
– Large hearing range (40 - 40,500 Hz) & localization abilities
– Vocalizations:
* Very vocal communicators: 5 separate call types identified
* More higher frequency calls (>1000 Hz) are indicator of acute pain in piglets (severing of spermatic cord during castration)
* Major way (along with olfactory cues) on how pigs communicate
importance of taste for pigs
– Pigs in nature are opportunistic omnivores
– Can identify sweet, salty, bitter and sour but will reject foods that taste bitter; sweet, cheese & meaty were most preferred
– Use flavoring to entice solid feed consumption at weaning
wallowing in pigs is for what reason
to prevent sunburn
sense of sight in pigs
- Panoramic vision of 310o, binocular vision of 35-50o
- Have rods and cones sensitive to green and blue frequency
- Will hesitate or be frightened by objects in path and prefer going towards lighted areas
Social Organization of pigs
– pigs organize themselves into multi-family units of ~8 sows with offspring, boars are solitary
– will have large communal nests with no dominance for sleep areas but then separate into sub-groups for foraging in the day
– Tend to be diurnal in activities and feeding
types of social organization in pigs
- Teat order
- Dominance hierarchies
important behaviours from birth through weaning
- Nest building: sows are highly motivated, regulated internally & externally
– These behaviours are severely restricted by the use of farrowing crates - Complex nursing and suckling behaviour
– Nursing occurs ~1x/hr and milk letdown is stimulated by
piglets
procedures done for piglet processing
- Piglet processing involves teeth clipping, ear-notching, castration, tail-docking & iron injection
- Considered elective and painful under the Codes of Practice
teeth clipping rationale
done to reduce injury to littermates and/or sow; is the cutting off of the tip or entire external section of canine & 3rd incisors (i.e. “needle” teeth)
rationale of ear notching/tatooing
Ear notching/tatooing: to identify individual animals
Notching is considered painful & tatooing stressful
requirements for teeth clipping
The need to clip piglets’ teeth must be evaluated, and the
procedure performed only when deemed necessary.
requirements for ear notching
Ear notching must only be performed on piglets when deemed necessary and when piglets are less than 14 days of age.
rationale for surgical castration at weaning? reccomendations?
to prevent boar taint & aggression in males
Recommendations: (1) have a veterinarian perform if over 23 kg (2) use non-surgical methods such as immuno-castration
requirements for castration of piglets
Castration performed after 10 days of age must be done with anesthetic and analgesic to help control pain.
As of July 1, 2016, castration performed at any age must be done with analgesics to help control post-procedure pain.
rationale for tail docking
to reduce the risk of tail-biting behaviour
what is tail biting behaviour and why is it a problem?
destructive chewing of one pig’s tail by another pig;
* Serious wounds, infection, paralysis, and in extreme cases death can result
* Multi-factorial etiology
* Serotonergic system involvement
requirements for tail docking
Pigs must be routinely monitored for signs of tail-biting, and corrective action, as necessary, must be taken (e.g. assess possible contributing factors; remove tail-biter; add rooting and/or physical enrichment).
Tail docking of pigs over 7 days of age must be done with pain control.
As of July 1, 2016, tail-docking performed at any age must be done with analgesics to help control post-procedure pain.
when does weaning occur and what does the process look like?
- Industry standard is ~21 d (~11-17 wks in nature)
- Piglets experience numerous stresses simultaneously (nutritional, emotional, immunological & physiological)
- Use of creep diets to facilitate feeding before weaning
requirements for weaning
REQUIREMENTS (feeding)
All newly weaned pigs must have continuous access to fresh feed and feeder design must be appropriate for the size of the pigs.
All newly weaned pigs must be observed frequently in the period following weaning to ensure that all are eating.
REQUIREMENTS (weaning)
Weaning procedures that minimize negative impacts on the health and welfare of the piglets must be developed and followed.
Weaning Problems
mixing aggression
belly nosing
what is mixing aggression?
weaning problem
fighting between newly mixed pigs is common and intensity decreases within first hrs, stressful & can prevent certain pigs from eating or drinking
what is belly nosing?
weaning problem
abnormal behaviour of rubbing snout on the midsection of another piglet; typically develops in 1st week of weaning but only in some piglets; etiology is not understood but may be a possible redirected suckling or redirected rooting and exploratory behaviour
* More in barren environments
* More prevalent in earlier weaned piglets
* All theories include a component of frustration or stress
what is the growing period and what behavioural problems do we see here?
Growing period: when pigs reach 25 kg, they move onto the grower period of production (i.e. “Grower” pig);before finisher phase of production
* New feeding regime & environment
– space allowance & feeder:pig ratio
Behavioural problems: tail-biting & ear-biting
welfare concerns during the finisher phase
Finisher phase: last stage of production; change in diet Welfare concerns: transportation & slaughter
what is a compromised animal
has a reduced capacity to withstand the stress of transportation for various reasons (e.g. injury, fatigue, infirmity, poor health, distress, very young or very old age, impending birth).
transportation considerations
lighting, gradient of ramp, extremes of temperature, stocking density, aggression (boar’s must not have tusks), handling, [feed withdrawal]
finisher phase requirements for loading and transportation
- Unfit animals must not be loaded.
- Compromised animals that are able to be transported under special provisions must be shipped
directly to local slaughter, not through auction markets. - Animals that cannot bear weight on all four legs must not be loaded; these animals will likely become non-ambulatory during transport.
- Fitness for transport in the context of each trip, including relevant factors such as the anticipated total trip duration from farm to final destination, and prevailing weather conditions, must be evaluated.
breeding herd housing types
Housing: gestation crates & group housing
when do we see aggression in the breeding herd
Aggression: with mixing of sows & introduction of new gilts to groups
behavioural vices of the breeding herd
chain
chewing, bar-biting, vacuum
chewing & polydipsia
requirements for the breeding herd
For all holdings newly built or brought into use for the first time after July 1, 2014, mated gilts/sows must be housed in groups. Individual stalls may be used for up to 28 days after the date of last breeding and an additional period of up to 7 days is permitted to manage grouping. Time in stalls can only be extended to protect the welfare of individual sows on the advice of a competent stockperson.
safe handling and moving of pigs
- Intelligent, stubborn and vocal (ear protection)
– Cannot herd pigs but can use food for luring
– Larger pigs can be dangerous (esp. while restraining, in pain/scared, handling/processing piglets, when aggressive with each other)
– Good to have escape route and let people know if you’re working alone
– Use pig boards for protection & for moving - When stressed easily become hyperthermic
- Important to be slow and gentle
Advances & Opportunities to improve pig welfare
- Immuno-castration: A method of castration which is reversible and non-painful. Accomplished by immunizing against sex hormones
- Sexing of sperm: The ability to select for either male or female offspring
