The effects of social organisation on feeding behaviour in growing pigs

Group housed pigs make less frequent feeder visits o f a longer duration, and eat at faster rate than pigs housed individually. They also have lower growth rates which may be due to elevated stress associated with aggression and social stress. The aim o f this thesis is to investigate the stability o f feeding patterns in individual pigs, the effect o f grouping and group composition on feeding patterns and to assess the consequences o f this shift in feeding behaviour for the welfare and performance of grouped pigs.The flexibility o f feeding behaviour was assessed by restricting the time o f access to food o f previously ad libitum fed pigs to 2 hours per day and then returning them to 24 hr access. When pigs had restricted access to food they made fewer daily feeder visits, o f a longer duration, with a higher food intake per visit than the control pigs that had 24 hour access to food throughout. Flexibility was assessed by comparing feeding behaviour before and after restriction. The pigs that experienced a period of restricted feeding either resumed their previous behaviour or showed the same trend as the controls. It was concluded that feeding behaviour was flexible.A second experiment investigated the effect o f grouping on feeding behaviour. Pigs were housed individually for 3 weeks after which they were combined into groups o f 4 for 3 weeks, before being returned to individual housing for a further 3 weeks. When grouped, pigs made fewer visits to the feeder o f a longer duration than when they were housed individually. Possible explanations for the changes in feeding behaviour are competition, group cohesion, or that the high frequency o f feeder visits when the pigs are housed individually is a consequence o f a lack o f social stimulation. The results suggest that group cohesion is most likely to have been causal in the observed changes in feeding behaviour.A final experiment investigated the effect o f group composition in terms o f latent aggressiveness on feeding behaviour. Pigs were kept in litter-groups for 3 weeks from weaning and categorised as ‘High’ (H) or ‘Low ’ (L) aggressive using an attack latency test. They were then transferred to individual housing for 2 weeks and their feeding behaviour was recorded. In a final 3 week period the pigs were combined into groups o f 8 pigs o f either all H or all L aggressiveness. Pigs in H groups had higher aggression levels on the day o f mixing than pigs in L groups and salivary cortisol concentrations suggest that stress levels may have been elevated when the pigs were grouped. Feeding behaviour changed between individual and group housing in accordance with Experiment 2. There were no differences in feeding behaviour, defined in terms o f visits, between pigs in H groups and pigs in L groups. However, when visits were organised into meals it was found that H pigs had more meals per day with longer within meal intervals both when individually and group housed. This suggests that there may be a link between aggressiveness o f individuals and meal patterns.In conclusion, pigs have flexible feeding patterns in terms o f a change in time of access to food. Pigs alter their feeding behaviour when group housed in the direction o f fewer feeder visits o f a longer duration, probably due to the effects o f group cohesion. The aggressiveness o f individuals within a group had no effect on feeding behaviour. There is potential to categorise the aggressiveness o f pigs using feeding behaviour such that aggressiveness could be manipulated in breeding programmes

Irish pig farmer's perceptions and experiences of tail and ear biting.

peer-reviewedAbnormal behaviours such as ear and tail biting of pigs is of significant welfare and economic concern. Currently, pig welfare legislation is under renewed focus by the EU commission and is likely to be enforced more thoroughly. The legislation prohibits routine tail docking and requires adequate enrichment to be provided. In Ireland, tail-docking is still the most utilised control mechanism to combat tail biting, but biting is still widespread even in tail-docked pigs. In addition, as pig farms are almost all fully slatted, bedding type material cannot be provided. Thus, the opinions, and practices of farmers in countries like Ireland, which may need to make significant adaptations to typical pig management systems soon, need to be considered and addressed. We carried out a survey of pig farmers during 2015 in order to gain a greater understanding of the extent of biting on Irish farms, perception on the most important preventive measures, current enrichment use and actions following outbreaks. Fifty-eight farmers from 21 Counties responded with an average herd size of 710 ± 597 sows (range 90–3000 sows). Only two farms had experienced no biting in the last year. Of the farms that had experienced tail biting (88%), 86% had also experienced ear biting. The most common concerns relating to biting were condemnation and reduced productivity of bitten pigs with both receiving an average score of 4 (most serious). Ear biting occurred most commonly in the 2nd stage (approximately 47–81 days from weaning) weaner and tail biting in the finishing stage. The most important preventive measures were felt to be taking care of animal health, restricting density, maintaining an even quality of feed/content and maintaining good air movement. Sixty-five percent of respondents added additional enrichment following an outbreak. Chains were the most common form of enrichment currently used (83%). Those not using chains favoured wood, toys and rope (17%). Identification of the most effective and accessible control and prevention measures both for the animals and for the farming community is thus essential. Improved understanding of the concerns and practices of producers, which this survey contributes to, is a first step towards this aim

The welfare of water buffaloes during the slaughter process: a review

This paper reviews the scientific literature on water buffalo welfare in all stages of the live animal supply chain from the farm gate to slaughter (loading/unloading, markets, transportation, handling, lairage, stunning and slaughter) with the objective of identifying risk factors and potential mitigation strategies. Although in some countries legislation exists to protect the welfare of farm animals during transport and killing, the handling practices used to load and unload buffaloes and move them in livestock markets and abattoirs are often harsh. This is frequently due to inadequate equipment designed principally for cattle, and the fact that water buffaloes are considered more temperamental than cattle. Additionally, more reactive animals have increased stress responses to handling, which can lead to more negative human interventions with increased numbers of skin lesions and bruises to the carcasses. During transport, buffaloes may suffer periods of thermal stress due to overstocking, inadequate ventilation and because in many tropical climates trips are made during the hottest time of the day. The anatomical and physiological characteristics of water buffalo make them particularly susceptible to thermal stress in the absence of water for wallowing. Although water buffaloes belong to the same Bovidae family as domestic cattle, certain anatomical features of the head make effective stunning very problematic. Buffaloes have extensive sinuses and frontal bones, meaning that the penetrating captive bolt devices recommended for cattle may prove ineffective in reliably inducing unconsciousness. There is a need for further development of procedures, stunning positions and appropriate devices to improve the efficiency of buffalo stunning. Finally, in many parts of the world where buffalo are routinely slaughtered in basic conditions without prior stunning. Slaughter without stunning can result in pain and stress associated with delays in the time to loss of consciousness, pain from the cutting of the neck and potential distress associated with aspiration of blood into the respiratory tract. Specific legislation, guidelines and handler/stockman/operator training programmes should be developed to improve the welfare of buffaloes during all ante mortem stages of loading, unloading, handling, stunning and slaughter

The Human Connection: Preparing Allied Health Students to Deliver Healthcare without Bias or Prejudice

Presentation given by Georgia Southern faculty member Rochelle Bornett Lee at the Georgia Society of Nuclear Medicine Technologist Annual Meeting

FFG – Bereich Basisprogramme – Projektevaluierung 2006

Im Rahmen der Evaluierung des Jahres 2001 wurde die Plausibilität und Validität der Evaluierungsergebnisse überprüft. Zu diesem Zweck wurden bei einer Gruppe von knapp 30 Unternehmen, die eine Forschungsförderung des damaligen FFF erhalten hatten, Interviews durchgeführt und die Richtigkeit bzw. Qualität der von den Unternehmen auf den Fragebögen getätigten Angaben, insbesondere in Bezug auf die dem geförderten Forschungsprojekt direkt zurechenbaren Umsätze und Arbeitsplätze, hinterfragt. In der gegenständlichen Evaluierung wurden zwei Änderungen des standardisierten Fragebogens vorgenommen: Zum einen wurde nach den Auswirkungen der Projekte auf das technologischen Niveau, den Know-how Zuwachs sowie die F&E Dynamik der geförderten Unternehmen gefragt. Zum anderen wurde die „klassische“ Additionalitätsfrage durch eine Frage nach der Kooperationsqualität ersetzt, um Hinweise auf die Auswirkungen der Förderung im Bereich der behavioristischen Additionalität zu gewinnen

Diversity on TAP: Inspirational Women Share Their Experience

Georgia Southern faculty member Rochelle Bornett Lee was a panelist at the Georgia Southern University Women’s Leadership Series