Pig

Pre-weaning socialization and environmental enrichment affect life-long response to regrouping in commercially-reared pigs

Weaning and other regrouping events as routine work in commercial farms cause stress to pigs and compromise their welfare. Several studies found positive outcomes to mitigate weaning stress when piglets were socialized (i.e. co-mingled) or raised with enrichment materials in...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Abnormal/Problematic Behavior, Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Ko, H., Chong, Q., Escribano, D. et al. 2020. Pre-weaning socialization and environmental enrichment affect life-long response to regrouping in commercially-reared pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 229, 105044.

Is the Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS) a useful welfare indicator to assess pain after cryptorchidectomy in growing pigs?

Pig cryptorchidism is a congenital anomaly, which requires surgical intervention. Pain assessment in pig farming has some limitations and consumers are increasingly concerned about suffering linked to on-farm procedures. The PGS seems to be a promising tool for pain assessment...

Year Published: 2020Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Vullo, C., Barbieri, S., Catone, G. et al. 2020. Is the Piglet Grimace Scale (PGS) a useful welfare indicator to assess pain after cryptorchidectomy in growing pigs? Animals 10(3), 412.

Effects of light spectrum on pig behaviour, health and growth

Pigs show preferences to display certain behaviours under specific light spectra. Moreover, adding UVB light to the spectrum might enhance pigs’ vitamin D status. Despite the potential, there are still gaps in understanding the broader effects of light spectrum on...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Scaillierez, A. J., van Nieuwamerongen - de Koning, S. E., van der Tol, R. P. P. J. et al. 2025. Effects of light spectrum on pig behaviour, health and growth. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 291, 106711.

Novel application of machine learning to enhance untrained and inexperienced evaluators’ diagnosis of acute pain in pigs

Accurately identifying pain is a critical first step required to adequately mitigate pain and improve pig health, welfare and quality of life. The objective of this study was to verify whether random forest and support vector machine algorithms trained utilizing...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Peres, B. G., de Oliveira, M. C., Pivato, G. M. et al.

Enriching the environment with multiple rooting materials and bedded rest areas improves welfare of finishing pigs

Providing environmental enrichment, including rooting materials and bedding, is essential for improving pig welfare by reducing tail, ear, and body lesions. In this observational field study of Norwegian commercial farms, all farms applied some level of environmental enrichment. Thus, rather...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental Enrichment, Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Ocepek, M., Newberry, R. C., Andersen, I. L. 2025. Enriching the environment with multiple rooting materials and bedded rest areas improves welfare of finishing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 292, 106773.

How does the previous environment affect pigs’ responses when switching to a barren or enriched environment as assessed by Qualitative Behaviour Assessment?

Intensive pig farming systems are often characterised by barren and monotonous environments, which can impair pig welfare. While enriching the environment enhances pig welfare, less is known about the implications of changes in housing conditions regularly happening on commercial farms....

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: De Angelis, F., Ferroni, G., Winckler, C. et al. 2025. How does the previous environment affect pigs’ responses when switching to a barren or enriched environment as assessed by Qualitative Behaviour Assessment? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 292, 106756.

Tactile stimulation by humans: Do pigs prefer scratching or stroking?

Scratching and stroking are tactile interactions used to improve the animal-human relationship and reduce stress in pigs. Both interactions resemble behaviours from the behavioural repertoire of pigs and have been applied in previous studies. To investigate the relative efficacy of...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Human-Animal InteractionAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Amann, M., Waiblinger, S., Hemsworth, P. H. et al. 2025. Tactile stimulation by humans: Do pigs prefer scratching or stroking? Applied Animal Behaviour Science 292, 106768.

Effects of different ways of music stimulation on exploring, playing and aggressive behavior

In the breeding of farm animals, music serves as an environmental enrichment factor that can improve the mood and welfare level of animals. However, it is not clear whether pigs receiving different modes of musical stimulation can improve cognitive performance....

Year Published: 2025Topics: Environmental EnrichmentAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Wu, M., Wang, Z., Zhou, S. et al. 2025. Effects of different ways of music stimulation on exploring, playing and aggressive behavior. Animals 15(18), 2721.

Investigating lameness in high containment swine

The Pirbright Institute is a world leading centre for the research and surveillance of viral diseases. The high containment animal facility (ISO11) is a bespoke working environment designed to house multiple species and viruses for in vivo vaccine research. Due...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Husbandry & ManagementAnimal Type: Pig

Citation: Trussler, O. 2025. Investigating lameness in high containment swine. Animal Technology and Welfare 24(2), 168–171.

Voluntary additional welfare monitoring of farm animals used in research: Maximising benefits requires sustained support

The aim of this project was to co-create an animal welfare monitoring system that incorporated both positive and negative welfare measures that would contribute to best practice husbandry standards of farm animals in a real animal research setting. Researchers worked...

Year Published: 2025Topics: Welfare AssessmentAnimal Type: Cattle, Goat, Pig, Sheep

Citation: Mullan, S., Stokes, J., Hale, H. E. et al. 2025. Voluntary additional welfare monitoring of farm animals used in research: Maximising benefits requires sustained support. Animals 15(19), 2817.