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Animal welfare and its assossiations with farm size and stockmanship characteristics on European breeding-to-finishing pig farms
Contributor(s):: Ruckli, A. K., Dippel, S., Helmerichs, J., Hubbard, C., Munsterhjelm, C., Vermeer, H., Leeb, C.
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Does group size have an impact on welfare indicators in fattening pigs?
| Contributor(s):: Meyer-Hamme, S. E. K., Lambertz, C., Gauly, M.
Production systems for fattening pigs have been characterized over the last 2 decades by rising farm sizes coupled with increasing group sizes. These developments resulted in a serious public discussion regarding animal welfare and health in these intensive production systems. Even though large...
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Agonistic behaviour, skin lesions and activity pattern of entire male, female and castrated male finishing pigs
| Contributor(s):: Bunger, B., Schrader, L., Schrade, H., Zacharias, B.
Fattening of intact boars is the least invasive alternative to the detrimental welfare effects of surgical castration of piglets. However, beside problems such as boar taint the divergent agonistic and sexual behaviour of boars may impair the pigs' welfare during fattening. To evaluate the...
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Diurnal rhythms, locations and behavioural sequences associated with eliminative behaviours in fattening pigs
| Contributor(s):: Guo, YuGuang, Lian, XinMing, Yan, PeiShi
Understanding eliminative behaviours in pigs is very important to maintain individual and pen cleanliness. In this experiment, twenty fattening pigs were housed in four concrete floor pens with a floor space of 3.25 m 2 per pig and free accessibility of outdoor runs. We studied the diurnal...
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Application of the Welfare Quality animal welfare assessment system in Finnish pig production, Part I: Identification of principal components
| Contributor(s):: Munsterhjelm, C., Heinonen, M., Valros, A.
The Welfare Quality (WQ) on-farm welfare assessment protocols for fattening pigs (n=95 farms) and sows, as well as suckling piglets (n=103 farms), were applied on Finnish farms. In order to identify distinct types of welfare problems (WPTs) Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to the...
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Application of the Welfare Quality animal welfare assessment system in Finnish pig production, Part II: Associations between animal-based and environmental measures of welfare
| Contributor(s):: Munsterhjelm, C., Heinonen, M., Valros, A.
This study aimed to establish associations between the environment and animal-based measures of welfare collected on 158 Finnish farms according to the Welfare Quality systems for pigs. The data consisted of 95 welfare assessments in fattening pigs and 103 in sows, including suckling piglets....
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Group composition for fattening entire male pigs under enriched housing conditions - influences on behaviour, injuries and boar taint compounds
| Contributor(s):: Holinger, M., Fruh, B., Hillmann, E.
In organic farming, the production of pork from entire male pigs seems to be the most promising alternative to castration, as organic animal husbandry aims at high standards of animal welfare and elimination of mutilations. However, previous research on behaviour of entire male pigs was mostly...
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Willingness of Dutch broiler and pig farmers to convert to production systems with improved welfare
| Contributor(s):: Gocsik, E., Lans, I. A. van der, Lansink, A. G. J. M. O., Saatkamp, H. W.
The present study investigated 15 broiler and 13 fattening pig farmers' willingness-to-convert to alternative production systems with higher animal welfare standards compared to conventional production systems in The Netherlands, and explored the main barriers to the adoption of these alternative...
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Perceptions among university students in Seville (Spain) of the rabbit as livestock and as a companion animal
| Contributor(s):: González-Redondo, P., Contreras-Chacón, G. M.
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Stress measures in tail biters and bitten pigs in a matched case-control study
| Contributor(s):: Munsterhjelm, C., Brunberg, E., Heinonen, M., Keeling, L., Valros, A.
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Alternative housing systems for fattening bulls under Austrian conditions with special respect to rubberised slatted floors
| Contributor(s):: Rouha-Muelleder, C., Absmanner, E., Kahrer, E., Zeiner, H., Scharl, T., Leisch, F., Stanek, C., Troxler, J.
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Behaviour and welfare of veal calves fed different amounts of solid feed supplemented to a milk replacer ration adjusted for similar growth
| Contributor(s):: Webb, L. E., Bokkers, E. A. M., Engel, B., Gerrits, W. J. J., Berends, H., Reenen, C. G. van
Veal calves in Europe are typically fed large quantities of milk replacer and small amounts of solid feed, a diet known to lead to the development of abnormal oral behaviours in these animals. These abnormal oral behaviours are thought to be an indication of frustration, chronic stress, and...
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The effect of housing system on the behaviour and growth parameters of fattening rabbits
| Contributor(s):: Postollec, G., Boilletot, E., Maurice, R., Michel, V.
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Experience of moderate bedding affects behaviour of growing pigs
| Contributor(s):: Munsterhjelm, C., Peltoniemi, O. A. T., Heinonen, M., Halli, O., Karhapaa, M., Valros, A.
Effects of early substrate-enrichment on behaviour and productivity of pigs were evaluated in a trial with four siblings as the experimental unit. Pens either were (=E) or were not (=0) moderately bedded with wood shavings and chopped straw during suckling (0-4 weeks of age), nursery (5-9 weeks)...
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Reliability of an avoidance distance test for the assessment of animals' responsiveness to humans and a preliminary investigation of its association with farmers' attitudes on bull fattening farms
| Contributor(s):: Windschnurer, I., Boivin, X., Waiblinger, S.
In many farm animal species, the relationship to humans affects their welfare considerably. But until now, on-farm studies on fattening bulls have been limited. A feasible, reliable methodology for assessing responses of bulls to humans would be helpful for large scale surveys on this topic....
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Behaviour of two genotypes of growing-finishing pig in three different housing systems
| Contributor(s):: Guy, J. H., Rowlinson, P., Chadwick, J. P., Ellis, M.
This trial compared the behaviour of 720 growing-finishing pigs, progeny of either indoor (Large White x Landrace) or outdoor (part-Meishan or part-Duroc) sows mated to Large White boars, when housed in either outdoor paddocks, straw yards or fully-slatted pens. Space allowance per pig in outdoor...
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The behaviour of male fattening pigs following either surgical castration or vaccination with a GnRF vaccine
| Contributor(s):: Baumgartner, J., Laister, S., Koller, M., Pfutzner, A., Grodzycki, M., Andrews, S., Schmoll, F.
Vaccination of male fattening pigs with a gonadotropin releasing factor (GnRF) vaccine is regarded as a possible solution to solve the welfare problem associated with surgical castration, which causes pain and stress even when performed under local or general anaesthesia. The objective of the...
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The effects of immuno- and surgical-castration on the behaviour and consequently growth of group-housed, male finisher pigs
| Contributor(s):: Cronin, G. M., Dunshea, F. R., Butler, K. L., McCauley, I., Barnett, J. L., Hemsworth, P. H.
An experiment was conducted to compare behaviour, in particular social and feeding behaviour, and consequently growth performance of group-housed entire and castrated male pigs during the finisher stage of production. Three treatments: (1) entire males, (2) immuno-castrated males, treated with...
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The separate and interactive effects of handling and environmental enrichment on the behaviour and welfare of growing pigs
| Contributor(s):: Day, J. E. L., Spoolder, H. A. M., Burfoot, A., Chamberlain, H. L., Edwards, S. A.
The aim of this experiment was to determine the interactive effects of handling and environmental enrichment on the behaviour, performance and welfare of the growing/finishing pigs. Groups of pigs were exposed to one of eight treatments arranged in a 2 x 4 factorial design with two levels of...
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Comparison of pig behaviour when given a sequence of enrichment objects or a chain continuously
| Contributor(s):: Perre, V. van de, Driessen, B., Thielen, J. van, Verbeke, G., Geers, R.
Tail biting is a major problem in modern pig (Sus scrofa) production and results in a reduction of animal welfare and productive performance. Biting behaviour has been shown to be decreased by the use of enrichment objects. In this study, 108 pigs housed in a room with 12 pens were observed and...
