Pig

Nest-building behaviour and activity budgets of sows provided with different materials

Domestic sows are still highly motivated to build a nest before farrowing. Many pig houses have slurry systems that do not allow use of long straw or other bulky materials that could block the drains, which provides an incentive to...

Year Published: 2018Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Rosvold, E. M., Newberry, R. C., Framstad, T. 2018. Nest-building behaviour and activity budgets of sows provided with different materials. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 200, 36-44.

Can the way pigs are handled alter behavioural and physiological measures of affective state?

Research on human-animal relationship in animal production has been mainly focused on its effect on stress, productivity and meat quality. Only few studies have assessed its effects on the animals' affective state. In the present study, the influence of positive...

Year Published: 2017Topics: HandlingAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Carreras, R., Arroyo, L., Mainau, E. et al. 2017. Can the way pigs are handled alter behavioural and physiological measures of affective state? Behavioural Processes 142, 91-98.

Effect of continuous access to feeding stalls during mixing on behavior, welfare, and performance of group-housed gestating sows in different social ranks

This study was conducted to evaluate a strategy of using feeding stalls to protect low-ranking sows in group-housing systems. Sows (n = 150, parity 1–9) were mixed at weaning in pens of 15 sows. Control pens allowed sows to access...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Wang, L. H., Li, Y. Z. 2016. Effect of continuous access to feeding stalls during mixing on behavior, welfare, and performance of group-housed gestating sows in different social ranks. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 96(3), 386-396.

Vocal correlates of emotional reactivity within and across contexts in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa)

Vocalizations have long been recognized to encode information about an individual's emotional state and, as such, have contributed to the study of emotions in animals. However, the potential of vocalizations to also encode information about an individual's emotional reactivity has...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Vocalization, Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Leliveld, L. M. C., Düpjan, S., Tuchscherer, A. et al. 2017. Vocal correlates of emotional reactivity within and across contexts in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). Physiology & Behavior 181, 117-126.

Up-regulation of IGF-1 in the frontal cortex of piglets exposed to an environmentally enriched arena

Environmental enrichment (EE) is widely used in the life sciences to study effects of environment on the brain. In pigs, despite lack of EE being a key welfare issue there is little understanding of brain effects of EE in pigs....

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Brown, S. M., Peters, R., Lawrence, A. B. 2017. Up-regulation of IGF-1 in the frontal cortex of piglets exposed to an environmentally enriched arena. Physiology & Behavior 173, 285-292.

Review of practices reported for preoperative food and water restriction of laboratory pigs (Sus scrofa)

The traditionally cited recommendations for the preoperative restriction of food (including bedding) and water in pigs do not appear to be evidence-based. As a preliminary step in elucidating a rationale for and standardizing preoperative food and water restriction (PFWR), this...

Year Published: 2016Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Bradbury, A. G., Clutton, R. E. 2016. Review of practices reported for preoperative food and water restriction of laboratory pigs (Sus scrofa). JAALAS 55(1), 35–40.

Relationship between environmental enrichment and the response to novelty in laboratory-housed pigs

Environmental enrichment is the enhancement of the physical or social environment in which an animal lives with the goal to improve its quality of life. Our objective was to investigate the effect of providing environmental enrichment in the home pen...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Backus, B. L., Sutherland, M. A., Brooks, T. A. 2017. Relationship between environmental enrichment and the response to novelty in laboratory-housed pigs. JAALAS 56(6), 735-741.

Optimum drug combinations for the sedation of growing boars prior to castration

Juvenile male pigs were sedated for castration. Eight five-month old boars were sedated twice (two weeks apart) with a combination of detomidine (0.1 mg/kg), midazolam (0.2 mg/kg) and either butorphanol (0.2 mg/kg) (Group MDB, n = 8) or morphine (0.2...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Anesthesia & Sedation, Body Modification/MutilationAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Lehmann, H., Blache, D., Drynan, E. et al. 2017. Optimum drug combinations for the sedation of growing boars prior to castration. Animals 7(8), 61.

Exploration feeding and higher space allocation improve welfare of growing-finishing pigs

Lack of environmental enrichment and high stocking densities in growing-finishing pigs can lead to adverse social behaviors directed to pen mates, resulting in skin lesions, lameness, and tail biting. The objective of the study was to improve animal welfare and...

Year Published: 2017Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Husbandry & Management, Stocking DensityAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Vermeer, H., Dirx-Kuijken, N., Bracke, M. 2017. Exploration feeding and higher space allocation improve welfare of growing-finishing pigs. Animals 7(5), 36.

Comparison of intramuscular or subcutaneous injections vs. castration in pigs—impacts on behavior and welfare

Physical castration (PC) is painful and stressful for nursing piglets. One alternative to PC is immunological castration (IC), but the pain and stress of handling associated with injections have not been assessed. The objectives of this study were to measure...

Year Published: 2016Topics: ReproductionAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: McGlone, J., Guay, K., Garcia, A. et al. 2016. Comparison of intramuscular or subcutaneous injections vs. castration in pigs—impacts on behavior and welfare. Animals 6(9), 52.