Implications of coping characteristics and social status for welfare and production of paired growing gilts

This paper considers the question whether knowledge on individual coping characteristics of growing pigs may be used to improve welfare and production after mixing. Gilts with either reactive or proactive coping characteristics were identified according to behavioural resistance in a backtest, respectively, being low (LR) and high resistant (HR) in this test. At 7 weeks of age, several pairs of unfamiliar gilts were formed, and pairs and dominance relationships were studied over a 3-week period. The following pairs (combinations) were established: two LR gilts (LR/LR; n = 12), two HR gilts (FIRM; n = 12), one LR and one HR gilt (LR gilt dominant: LR(d)/HR; n = 11), and one LR and one HR gilt (HR gilt dominant: LR/HR(d); n = 12). Results showed that on the day of mixing, aggression subsided less quickly and increases in body temperature were higher in LR/ HR(d) and HR/HR pairs. Also, during the first week post-mixing, feed efficiency was lower and skin damage was higher in LR/HR(d) and HR/HR pairs. Mixing of two HR gilts caused highest levels of stress, indicated by greater catecholamine concentrations in urine following the day of mixing, and higher baseline levels of plasma ACTH at I week post-mixing. The lower tendency of fearfulness. In contrast to gilts within HR/HR pairs to contact a novel object may present higher those of LR/HR(d) pairs, responses of LR(d)/HR pairs revealed much lower levels of stress, which emphasised the importance of dominance relationships, being independent of coping characteristics of individual gilts. We speculate that in LR/HR pairs, dominant LR gilts were able to suppress aggressiveness of HR subordinates. HR or proactive gilts, however, may become aggressive when being dominant. General effects of social status, independent of combination, were also found. Compared to dominants, subordinates showed higher acute cortisol, body temperature and vocal responses to mixing. In the longer term, they showed a higher vocal and parasympathetic responsitivity towards the novel object, and their body growth was impaired. Measures not influenced by combination and social status included those of leucocyte subsets, prolactin, and average heart rates during novelty tests. To conclude, aggressive conditions in newly formed groups. and consequently welfare and production, may largely depend on coping characteristics of individual pigs, but also on dominance relationships. Accordingly, the practical value of the backtest is being discussed. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Mixing induces long-term hyperthermia in growing pigs

The purpose of this experiment was to determine whether body temperature is a sensitive parameter to measure long-term effects of stress in pigs. Mixing of unacquainted pigs is a severe stressor that has detrimental effects on health, production and welfare. We measured deep body temperature after mixing growing pigs. Five pigs of 15 weeks of age, each individually housed with a companion pig, were mixed with two unacquainted congeners. Deep body temperature, heart rate and activity were recorded by radiotelemetry 9 days prior to until 8 days after mixing. These parameters were also recorded in dive control pigs (individually housed with a companion pig) during the same time span. Behaviour during the light period was recorded on videotape on the day of mixing and on three subsequent days. Mixing induced a significant rise ill body temperature that lasted for 8 h after mixing. Although heart rate and general activity level did not significantly differ between mixed and control pigs, mixing significantly increased the frequency of fighting and reduced the frequency of earing. In conclusion, the present experiment shows that mixing induces a long-lasting hyperthermia in pigs. Thus, deep body temperature may be used as a sensitive parameter to measure long-term effects of stress in pigs

On-farm broiler welfare assessment and associated training

Around the world, people who care for animals as stock keepers, stockmen, farmers, producers are placed in a position where they can greatly influence the quality of life of the animals they manage. This is particularly true in broiler chickens, where large numbers of animals can be cared for by comparatively small numbers of people. There is an international progression to start to assess poultry welfare on farm by looking at the animals themselves using (Animal Based Measures ABMs) rather than by looking exclusively at the resources provided (space, light heat, litter material - Resource Based Measures RBM's). In general, the areas being assessed are: Are the animals properly fed and supplied with water? Are the animals properly housed? Are the animals healthy? Can the animals express a range of behaviours and emotional states? Different types of organisations are starting to use ABM's - Government inspection bodies - for example state veterinary staff, Research institutes - wishing to use standardized assessment methods for research, Animal Welfare NGO's, Farm assurance companies and Legislators. The WelfareQualityNetwork® (WQN) http://www.welfarequality.net/everyone has described ABM's which address twelve health and welfare criteria and has tested them on a large number of farms across Europe. Some examples from this assessment scheme are described

Genetic parameters for social effects on survival in cannibalistic layers: Combining survival analysis and a linear animal model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mortality due to cannibalism in laying hens is a difficult trait to improve genetically, because censoring is high (animals still alive at the end of the testing period) and it may depend on both the individual itself and the behaviour of its group members, so-called associative effects (social interactions). To analyse survival data, survival analysis can be used. However, it is not possible to include associative effects in the current software for survival analysis. A solution could be to combine survival analysis and a linear animal model including associative effects. This paper presents a two-step approach (2STEP), combining survival analysis and a linear animal model including associative effects (LAM).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Data of three purebred White Leghorn layer lines from Institut de Sélection Animale B.V., a Hendrix Genetics company, were used in this study. For the statistical analysis, survival data on 16,780 hens kept in four-bird cages with intact beaks were used. Genetic parameters for direct and associative effects on survival time were estimated using 2STEP. Cross validation was used to compare 2STEP with LAM. LAM was applied directly to estimate genetic parameters for social effects on observed survival days.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using 2STEP, total heritable variance, including both direct and associative genetic effects, expressed as the proportion of phenotypic variance, ranged from 32% to 64%. These results were substantially larger than when using LAM. However, cross validation showed that 2STEP gave approximately the same survival curves and rank correlations as LAM. Furthermore, cross validation showed that selection based on both direct and associative genetic effects, using either 2STEP or LAM, gave the best prediction of survival time.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>It can be concluded that 2STEP can be used to estimate genetic parameters for direct and associative effects on survival time in laying hens. Using 2STEP increased the heritable variance in survival time. Cross validation showed that social genetic effects contribute to a large difference in survival days between two extreme groups. Genetic selection targeting both direct and associative effects is expected to reduce mortality due to cannibalism in laying hens.</p

Development of pig welfare assessment protocol integrating animal-, environment-, and management-based measures

Abstract Background Due to increased interest in animal welfare, there is now a need for a comprehensive assessment protocol to be used in intensive pig farming systems. There are two current welfare assessment protocols for pigs: Welfare Quality&#174; Assessment Protocols (applicable in the Europe Union), that mostly focuses on animal-based measures, and the Swine Welfare Assurance Program (applicable in the United States), that mostly focuses on management- and environment-based measures. In certain cases, however, animal-based measures might not be adequate for properly assessing pig welfare status. Similarly, welfare assessment that relies only on environment- and management-based measures might not represent the actual welfare status of pigs. Therefore, the objective of this paper was to develop a new welfare protocol by integrating animal-, environment-, and management-based measures. The background for selection of certain welfare criteria and modification of the scoring systems from existing welfare assessment protocols are described. Methods The developed pig welfare assessment protocol consists of 17 criteria that are related to four main principles of welfare (good feeding, good housing, good health, and appropriate behavior). Good feeding, good housing, and good health were assessed using a 3-point scale: 0 (good welfare), 1 (moderate welfare), and 2 (poor welfare). In certain cases, only a 2-point scale was used: 0 (certain condition is present) or 2 (certain condition is absent). Appropriate behavior was assessed by scan sampling of positive and negative social behaviors based on qualitative behavior assessment and human-animal relationship tests. Results Modification of the body condition score into a 3-point scale revealed pigs with a moderate body condition (score 1). Moreover, additional criteria such as feed quality confirmed that farms had moderate (score 1) or poor feed quality (score 2), especially those farms located in a high relative humidity region. Conclusions The developed protocol can be utilized to assess welfare status in an intensive pig farming system. Although further improvements are still needed, this study is a first step in developing a pig welfare assessment protocol that combines animal-, environment-, and management-based measures

Evaluation of a novel nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite paste Ostim® in comparison to Alpha-BSM® - more bone ingrowth inside the implanted material with Ostim® compared to Alpha BSM®

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The purpose of this study was to evaluate the performance a newly developed nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite, OSTIM^®following functional implantation in femoral sites in thirty-eight sheep for 1, 2 or 3 months. Ostim^®35 was compared to an established calcium phosphate, Alpha BSM^®.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Biomechanical testing, μ-CT analysis, histological and histomorphological analyses were conducted to compare the treatments including evaluation of bone regeneration level, material degradation, implant biomechanical characteristics.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The micro-computed tomography (μCT) analysis and macroscopic observations showed that Ostim^®seemed to diffuse easily particularly when the defects were created in a cancellous bone area. Alpha BSM^®remained in the defect.</p> <p>The performance of Ostim was good in terms of mechanical properties that were similar to Alpha BSM^®and the histological analysis showed that the bone regeneration was better with Ostim^®than with Alpha BSM^®. The histomorphometric analysis confirmed the qualitative analysis and showed more bone ingrowth inside the implanted material with Ostim^®when compared to Alpha BSM ^®at all time points.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The successful bone healing with osseous consolidation verifies the importance of the nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite in the treatment of metaphyseal osseous volume defects in the metaphyseal spongiosa.</p