Økologisk hangriseproduktion: Er dyrevelfærden i orden?

Økologisk svinekød er et klart alternativ til konventionelt svinekød, da økologisk slag-tesvineproduktion med lavere belægningsgrad, adgang til udeareal og grovfoder er en markant anderledes produktionsform. Forbrugernes forventninger til et naturligt produkt betyder, at ophør af kastration har høj prioritet i fremtidig økologisk svine-produktion

Influence of grouping strategy on welfare measurements of organic entire male pigs

Alternatives to surgical castration in organic pig production are needed, due to stress and pain caused by castration of male pigs. One alternative, which is in accordance with the values in organic farming, is production of entire male pigs. However, changed behaviour of entires compared to castrates might affect the welfare of the animals. Therefore, in order to produce entire male pigs, without compromised animal welfare, changes in the production system, possible offered by the organic farming system, with e.g. more available space and access to rooting material and roughage, might be a necessity. The aim of this article is to investigate the effect of grouping strategy and group size on levels of mounting behaviour and skin lesions, hypothesising that procedures that influence the social stability (e.g. regrouping) will have a larger negative effect in small groups compared to large groups. Approximately 1400 organic entire male pigs of the breed (Landrace x Yorkshire) x Duroc were reared in parallel in five organic herds, distributed across four batches in a 2x2 factorial design, with two grouping strategies; regrouping and relocation and two group sizes; 15 and 30 animals. Animals were able to socialise in the lactation period, they were all mixed with unfamiliar pigs at weaning, and a second mixing occurred at insertion to fattening pens for pigs being regrouped. Counting of skin lesions and registration of mounting behaviour were done on three occasions during the experimental period

Weight and season affects androstenone and skatole occurence in entire male pigs in organic pig production

To investigate the extent to which the level of androstenone and skatole decreases with a decrease in live weight and/or age at slaughter of entire male pigs produced under organic standards, 1174 entire male pigs were raised in parallel in 5 organic herds, distributed across 4 batches in summer and winter. The median androstenone level was high for organic entire male pigs (1.9 µg/g), but varied greatly both within and between herds. Median skatole level was 0.05 µg/g, also with a wide range both within and between herds. Decreasing live weight over the range of 110±15.6 kg sd was found to decrease androstenone as well as skatole concentration, however, with different patterns of association. Age did not have significant direct effect on either androstenone or skatole levels. Androstenone levels were higher during winter than summer (P<0.0001), but no difference in skatole was found between seasons. The study concludes that decreasing live weight at 28 slaughter could be an applicable management tool to reduce risk of boar taint for a future production of entire male pigs within the organic pig production system, although further studies are needed as great variation in boar taint was found also for low weight animals