Swine handling Flashcards

1
Q

Why is animal handling important?

A
  • human safety
    -animal welfare
  • effects/cost on production
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2
Q

Pig senses

A
  • Pray animals
  • monocular vision 310 degrees, reduced binocular vision. Blind spot in front of face
  • Good hearing; ears always moving
  • Good smell; always rustling and sniffing
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3
Q

Typical pig behaviour

A
  • highly social
  • vocalizations
  • group defensive strategies
  • very curious; investigative with mouth
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4
Q

Pig handling tools

A
  • Yourself (human presence and voice)
  • Pig board
  • Snare
  • Shaker cans
  • Paddles (with rattle)
  • Flags
  • Long arm/cape
  • Electric prods
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5
Q

Flight Zone & Pressure and Release

A

Flight zone: distance at which animal feels safe

Use pressure and release strategies to move pigs within their bubble. Enter pigs flight zone will make them want to move.

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6
Q

Point of balance with swine

A

Point of balance is at shoulder in pigs.

If you are in front, will move backwards. If you are behind point of balance then pig will move forward

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7
Q

Group movement patterns

A
  • Flow
  • Bunch
  • Circle
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8
Q

Flow movement pattern

A
  • Calm pigs
  • Easiest movement; giving lots of release
  • attention is on herd movement
  • No tools, movement is based on handler’s position and moving bubble as a whole
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9
Q

Bunch movement pattern

A
  • Fear or defensive emotional state of pigs
  • Kills movement
  • Blocked from getting released
  • Attention is on handler
  • Pigs are bunched together and restrained by preventing movement. Allows for ear tagging and vaccinations
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10
Q

Circle pattern movement

A
  • Fear or defensive emotional state of pigs
  • Opposite direction of pressure
  • Allow pig to circle out of pressure and group, and then accelerate back into group. Don’t circle pigs, let pigs circle you.
  • Attention on handler
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11
Q

Using swine board

A

Board facing pigs: increases pressure

Board not facing pigs: reduces pressure

Creating a visual barrier to prevent them from exit

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12
Q

Calm pigs

A
  • Attention on movement
  • Ears forward in direction of movement
  • Head down, no/low vocalizations- grunts
  • Moving along easily
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13
Q

Pigs showing mild fear

A
  • Increases attention on handler
  • Head raised
  • Flight zone increases
  • Need to reduce pressure
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14
Q

Pigs showing panic

A
  • 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
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15
Q

Handling pigs in smaller group

A
  • Easier to manage when working tight turns (potential for bottle necks)
  • Better for large pigs (sows and boars). They aren’t as scared of humans because herd instinct isn’t as strong.
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16
Q

Handling pigs in larger group

A
  • More manageable when working with large corridors, wide pen turns, few distractions
  • Supports the flow
  • Better for nursery pigs- strong herding instinct
17
Q

Growing swine and human contact

A
  • Intermittent human contact
  • High fear response
  • Pressure and release easier because they are more fearful and will want to move away from us
18
Q

Breeding swine and human contact

A

= More contact with humans- not as fearful so will be often harder to move using pressure and release method)
- Good human animal relationship can be beneficial though as they will be more calm

19
Q

Defensive strategy of swine

A
  • Usually bunching
  • Pigs can attack (open mouth, snorting)
20
Q

Restraint of piglet

A
  • Support belly and hold back hock; hold mouth closed to prevent biting and vocalizing
  • V-board: can be used to sample blood
21
Q

Restraint of medium to large pigs

A
  • Use snare
  • Avoid conducting treatment/blood draws in groups due to potential of attacks towards you or with other pigs… should instead make a breezeway or use a crate
22
Q

Distraction techniques

A
  • Use food
  • Provide them with novel manipulation material ex. rope
23
Q

Signs of a healthy alert pig

A
  • bright and alert
  • healthy startle response
  • raise head and ears
  • initial vocalization when humans enter (ripples across group)… remember extreme responses could indicate there could be poor human-animal relationship
24
Q

Things to look for inside barn

A
  • regular group activity (feeding and water)
  • Body condition scores
  • Pigs are paying attention to surroundings
  • movement around pen at ease
  • Clean pig
  • Dung (firm, even consistency)
25
Q

Signs of unhealthy pig

A
  • don’t get up; abnormal posture
  • dull, listless, lack of interest
  • lesions/wounds
  • not feeding, sunken flanks
  • sunken eyes and discharge
  • lame when moving
  • breathing issues
  • excessively hairy pigs
26
Q

Abnormal posture positions

A
  • Arched back/ rigid posture, favouring leg
  • Dog sitting for long periods
  • head tilting (ear infection)
27
Q

Pig laying positions

A

Lateral
Sternal

28
Q

What does the way that swine are laying indicate?

A
  • Thermoregulation- if sternal then cold; if lateral and/or dirty than hot.
  • Sickness
  • Resource allocation- if not laying with group then could indicate lack of space
29
Q

Pen Areas for swine

A
  • dunging area
  • feeding area
  • lying area
30
Q

Swine Aggression

A

Fighting usually occurs with unfamiliar conspecifics. Lesions occurring within 0-10 days of introduction.

Wounds on hind indicate bullying. Wounds on front indicate competition for hierarchy and resources.

31
Q

Tail position in swine

A

Hanging tails indicate early warning for tail biting. Tail biting is multifactorial.

Most pigs have docked tails to reduce risk of biting damages