Lecture 16 Flashcards
Swine handling and distance exam
Why is animal handling important?
3pt
Human safety
* Most injuries occur during animal handling
Animal welfare
* Reduce fear, stress and injury
Cost to production
* Stress reduces meat quality, increases death loss and injury
How is a pigs sight, smell and hearing?
3pt
- Hearing and smell is good, they rely on them
- Pigs have bad depth perception
What are pigs ntural behaviours like?
4pt
- Highly social
- Vocalizations - Communicate regarding safety
- Group defensive strategies if threatened
- Highly curious, investigate with their mouth
➢ Safety when working in a pen
What are some acceptable handling tools for pigs? list 3
3pt
- Yourself! (handlers bubble) -Human presence, Your voice
- Pig board
- Snare
- Shaker cans
- Paddles (with rattle)
- Flags
- Long arm/cape
- Electric prods
What is flight zone and pressure and release for pigs? what are some handling problems?
5pt
Flight zone -Distance at which animal feels safe
Pressure & Release - Used to aid in moving/handling pigs
* Entering flight zone increases pressure
* Pig seeks release of pressure by moving away
* Allow the pressure to be released!
Handling problems
* Arise when pigs get scared
* Usually due to incorrect pressure & release
* Handlers not respecting pig’s space and needs
What are the different group movement patterns? explain them.
3pt
Flow
* Calm
* easiest movement
* being given release
* attention to herd movement
* pigs spaced out, heads down, ears forward
Bunch
* Fearful or defensive
* kills movement
* blocked from getting release
* attention to handler
* can be good for treating multiple animals quickly
Circle
* Fearfulor defensive
* Opposite direction of pressure accelerates
* taking release by circling out of handlers pressure
* attention on handler
What are calm pigs like?
4pt
- Attention on movement
- Ears forward in direction of movement
- Head down, no/low vocalization – grunts
- Moving along easily
What are pigs like with mild fear?
4pt
- Increased attention on handler
- Head raised
- Flight zone increases
- Need to reduce pressure
What are pigs in a panic like?
4pt
- Full attention on handler
- Flight response, strong vocalizations
- Climbing over pen mates, run through barriers, or obstacles
- Refusing to move, shutting down – highly stressed pig
What are group size conciderations when handling pigs?
2pt
Smaller group sizes
* Easier to manage
* Tight turns, potential for bottle necks
Large group sizes – more manageable
* Large corridors, wide pen turns, few distractions
* Supports the flow
What is growing swines responce to humans?
3pt
- Intermittent human contact
- High fear response
- Pressure and release easier
What is breeding swines responce to humans?
2pt
- More contact with humans – not as fearful
- Good human-animal relationship beneficial
```
How do you move sows?
3pt
Small groups
* Fighting can occur if left to mingle
Zig-zag in and out of blind spot
* Pressure and release
Good human-animal relationship
* Calm sows – willing to move
* Positive reinforcement
What kinds of poor handling of pigs is there?
4pt
Failure to correctly apply pressure and release
* Not releasing the pressure
* Applying too much pressure
* Creating too much noise – and continuous noise
Not observing the pigs and changing behaviour
Too many handlers – all want to do something
In a hurry to get the job done
* Wanting the pigs to go faster
* But slow is better than stop!
How do you stay safe when handling pigs?
4pt
- Steel-toed boots - Good grip on sole
- Handling board – pig board
- Ear protection
- Eye protection
- Mask
- Tell people where you will be working -Cell phone
- Work in pairs
How do you operate around swine?
3pt
Be aware of the animals
* How are they responding
* Their perspective, field of vision
* Level of fear – Recognize the signs
Be aware of the environment
* Hazards – Slippery areas, bottlenecks
* Facilities – Space, escape routes, trap hazards?
Respond to the situation
* Learn to be responsive
* Be aware of your actions
* Be patient and respect the pig
How do you identify dangerous situations?
5pt
▪ There is no escape route for you or the pig
▪ There are many animals in the pen and minimal escape routes - Reduce the number of people entering the pen and provide an escape route
▪ There is a lot of unrest in the group of animals- Aggression, Competition over resources
▪ Defensive strategies, group level – Bunching
▪ Pigs may attack – Open mouthed and chomping, Vocalizations – Snorting, Boars and sows, Can also occur in growing pigs
What are distraction techniques to use on pigs?
4pt
▪ Provision of food
▪ Trickle feed over the course of the procedure to keep attention of pig
▪ Novel manipulable material to investigate
▪ Rope can work well - Prior experience useful
What are signs of a healthy pig?
4pt
Bright and Alert
Healthy startle response
* Raise head and ears
* Jump up, freeze, and/or scamper away
* Vocalize: Barking (‘woof’) ripples across the group
➢ Few seconds, then return to normal
➢ Return to investigate you as a new arrival
Startle response common in younger pigs
* Less accustomed to humans than older breeding animals
Normal in older animals – If startled by something new
* Extreme reactions – Insight on care
➢ Poor human-animal relationship?
What is normal for pigs in a barn?
6pt
Regular consummative activities by a proportion of the group: Feeding and drinking
* Body condition score – well covered.
Bright eyed, alert, responsive
Pay attention to surroundings
* Acknowledging humans entering the room
* Getting up to investigate
* Acknowledging attention from other pigs
Moving with ease around the pen – sound, not lame, relaxed posture
‘Clean pig’ - Skin not blotchy, free from lesions, swellings, no discharge
Dung – firm, even consistency
What are signs of unhealthy pigs?
8pt
- Failure to raise
- Dull, listless, lack of interest
- Lesions/skin wounds on the body, swellings in joints - Injury from pen fittings, Biting behaviours from other pigs, Infection in joints
- Not feeding: Sunken flanks – gaunt, low body condition, bony protrusions
- Sunken eyes, discharge
- Lame when moving, favoring one leg
- Excessively hairy pig
- Labored breathing – ‘thumping’
What are abnormal postures in pigs?
3pt
Arched back – Rigid posture
* Compensating – Favouring one limb
Dog sitting for prolonged periods
* Respiratory issues
* Space availability
* Hind end weakness
* In sows – Stress, frustration?
Head constantly tilted to one side
* Ear infection
What does a pigs lying posture and positions tell you and what do the positions mean?
5pt
Provides information on pig comfort
* Thermoregulation
* Sickness
* Resource allocation
Sternal lying = cold (trying to keep warm), not enough space
Lateral lying = comfortable or too hot (with open mouth breathing)
How do you read pig behaviour?
3pt
▪ Screaming, constant vocalizations – long drawn out noise
▪ Excessive activity at the feeder/drinker when pigs get up
▪ Gaunt, slim flanked looking pigs - Blockage to feed and/or water, Tail biting
Normal vs concerning aggression
4pt
Normal for lesions to occur
* Pigs fight when meet unfamiliar conspecifics (mixing, dynamic groups)
* 0-10 lesions typically appear on animals within days of grouping
Concerning levels
* Animals covered in whole body lesions
* High levels occurring throughout the cycle
What are a pigs ear positions like?
3pt
▪ Typically, pigs have upright, alert ears
▪ Droopy ears can be a sign of issues
▪ Consider breed differences-Landrace have floppy ears
What are a pigs tail positions like?
5pt
- Hanging tails – Early warning sign of tail biting
- Pigs with inflamed tail wounds 14 x more likely to have a hanging tail
- Increased tail-in-mouth & general biting behaviour
- Majority of pigs tail docked to reduce risk of biting damage
- Tail biting causes are multifactorial
