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Alternative housing for sows and litters. Part 3. Effects of piglet diet quality and sow-controlled housing on performance and behaviour
| Contributor(s):: Pajor, E. A., Weary, D. M., Caceres, C., Fraser, D., Kramer, D. L.
We studied how "sow-controlled" housing (i.e. housing where sows can leave their piglets at will) affects the behaviour and performance of sows and litters when tested under near-commercial conditions and with two different levels of piglet diet quality. Sows and litters were housed in...
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Alternative housing for sows and litters. Part 4. Effects of sow-controlled housing combined with a communal piglet area on pre- and post-weaning behaviour and performance
| Contributor(s):: Weary, D. M., Pajor, E. A., Bonenfant, M., Fraser, D., Kramer, D. L.
Previous experimental work has shown modest and variable production and welfare benefits for the lactating sow and piglets when sows are allowed to separate themselves temporarily from their piglets, or when piglets have access to a communal creep area sufficiently attractive that they spend...
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Alternative housing for sows and litters. Part 5. Individual differences in the maternal behaviour of sows
| Contributor(s):: Pitts, A. D., Weary, D. M., Fraser, D., Pajor, E. A., Kramer, D. L.
'Sow-controlled' housing has been developed to address welfare and production concerns associated with close confinement of the lactating sow and her litter, by permitting the sow to leave the litter at will. However, there is a risk that variation in the use of the piglet-free...
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Characteristics of wild pig farrowing nests and beds in the upper Coastal Plain of South Carolina
| Contributor(s):: Mayer, J. J., Martin, F. D., Brisbin, I. L., Jr.
Thirteen farrowing nests and 9 resting/loafing beds built by wild pigs (Sus scrofa) from an introduced population in South Carolina, USA, were studied with respect to physical description, size parameters, the animals involved, and adjacent surroundings. The nests, built by pre-parturition sows,...
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Dimensions of maternal behaviour characteristics in domestic and wild x domestic crossbred sows
| Contributor(s):: Spinka, M., Illmann, G., Jonge, F. de, Andersson, M., Schuurman, T., Jensen, P.
We examined the maternal behaviour of seven domestic and seven wildxdomestic primiparous sows during 10 days post partum at the Wageningen Agricultural University, Neatherlands during April-June 1997 to investigate two questions: (1) Did maternal behaviour change during domestication? (2) Can the...
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Effects of feed-back from the nest on maternal responsiveness and postural changes in primiparous sows during the first 24 h after farrowing onset
| Contributor(s):: Pedersen, L. J., Damm, B. I., Marchant-Forde, J. N., Jensen, K. H.
In order to elucidate whether feed-back from a farrowing nest affects the sows' activity level and responsiveness to piglets during the first 24 h after the onset of parturition, 18 primiparous Landrace x Yorkshire sows were given the opportunity to build a farrowing nest of peat, straw and...
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Individual differences in the behaviour of sows at the nest-site and the crushing of piglets
| Contributor(s):: Wechsler, B., Hegglin, D.
Continuous 24-h video recordings were made of 11 loose-housed sows and their litters during parturition, and during the following 10 days. Each sow and litter were kept in a pen with a straw-bedded nest-site. Piglets were defined as in danger of being crushed if they were trapped by the sow's...
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Influence of environmental stimuli on nest building and farrowing behaviour in domestic sows
| Contributor(s):: Thodberg, K., Jensen, K. H., Herskin, M. S., Jorgensen, E.
The effects of floor type (sand vs. concrete) and substrate type (straw feeder vs. no straw feeder) were examined using a 2 x 2 factorial design with 9 replicates of 4 multiparous sows. From 1 week prepartum until 2 weeks after farrowing, sows were penned individually in roofed 7.6 msuperscript...
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Nest building and farrowing in sows: relation to the reaction pattern during stress, farrowing environment and experience
| Contributor(s):: Thodberg, K., Jensen, K. H., Herskin, M. S.
Nest building and farrowing behaviour of 40 Landrace/Yorkshire (L/Y) sows was studied in their first and second parity. In the first parity, the gilts were either housed in a crate or a "get-away-pen" (GAP) and in the second parity, either the same farrowing environment was used again...
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Nursing behaviour of sows during 5 weeks lactation and effects on piglet growth
| Contributor(s):: Valros, A. E., Rundgren, M., Spinka, M., Saloniemi, H., Rydhmer, L., Algers, B.
The main goal of this study was to investigate the effect of sow nursing behaviour on piglet liveweight gain and within-litter variation (WLV) in piglet liveweight gain under as naturalistic conditions as possible. In order to achieve this, patterns of sow nursing behaviour and piglet liveweight...
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Nursing behaviour, postpartum activity and reactivity in sows: effects of farrowing environment, previous experience and temperament
| Contributor(s):: Thodberg, K., Jensen, K. H., Herskin, M. S.
Postpartum behaviour during the first 24 h after farrowing (day 0 pp) and on day 10 pp of 40 Landrace/Yorkshire sows was studied in their first and second parity in a crossover experiment regarding farrowing environment (crate vs. get-away-pen (GAP)). The behaviour was compared with the...
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Sow activity level, frequency of standing-to-lying posture changes and anti-crushing behaviour - within sow-repeatability and interactions with nursing behaviour and piglet performance
| Contributor(s):: Valros, A., Rundgren, M., Spinka, M., Saloniemi, H., Algers, B.
Starvation and crushing by the sow are the two main causes of piglet mortality prior to weaning, thus it is obvious that the behaviour of the sow influences piglet survival. In order to increase the understanding of the behavioural mechanisms influencing piglet performance, we recorded...
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Sow behaviour during parturition in relation to the observed and the genetic merit for weaning survival
| Contributor(s):: Uitdehaag, K. A., Ekkel, D., Kanis, E., Knol, E.
The sow's breeding value for mothering ability (EBVma) can be estimated as the genetic effect of the foster sow on piglet survival at weaning. Sows with a high EBVma have litters with a short average interval from birth until first colostrum intake. In the present study, it was investigated...
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Sow behaviour involved in the crushing of piglets in outdoor farrowing huts - a brief report
| Contributor(s):: Vieuille, C., Berger, F., Pape, G. le, Bellanger, D.
This study focuses on maternal activities involved in the trapping of piglets by the sow's body in outdoor farrowing systems and examine the mother-piglet context leading either to the death of piglets or to their survival. The behaviour of six Large-White x Landrace sows and their litters...
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A note on genetic parameters of gilt responses to humans
| Contributor(s):: Hellbrugge, B., Tolle, K. H., Presuhn, U., Krieter, J.
In this study, a response test towards a stockperson was evaluated for improved maternal behaviour and increased piglet survival. Records were available from 638 German Landrace gilts with 860 observations tested for the response to an observer in the familiar environment of the mating centre....
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Maternal behaviour of domestic sows and crosses between domestic sows and wild boar
| Contributor(s):: Gustafsson, M., Jensen, P., Jonge, F. H. de, Illmann, G., Spinka, M.
Maternal behaviour was compared in 7 (Yorkshire x Dutch Landrace) x Yorkshire sows (domestic) and 7 (Yorkshire x Dutch Landrace) x wild boar sows (wild-type) before and up to 3 weeks after farrowing. All sows were primiparous and were maintained in an outdoor system with farrowing huts containing...
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Parturient behaviour and offspring-directed aggression in farmed wild boar of three genetic lines
| Contributor(s):: Harris, M. J., Bergeron, R., Gonyou, H. W.
Twenty-four primiparous farmed wild boar females of three genetic lines (SD, San Diego; PK, Peter Kalden; S, Scandinavian) were videotaped before and during parturition; production data were also recorded. Sows were housed in individual, well-strawed pens measuring 3.05 m x 1.52 m. The duration...
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Piglet- and stockperson-directed sow aggression after farrowing and the relationship with a pre-farrowing, human approach test
| Contributor(s):: Forde, J. N. M.
The aims of this experiment were to determine the incidence and severity of piglet- and stockperson-directed aggression in two different farrowing systems and to determine whether either could be predicted using behavioural and physiological measures recorded previously during a standard human...
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Predictability of nursings without milk ejection in domestic pigs
| Contributor(s):: Illmann, G., Spinka, M., Stetkova, Z.
Seven to 8 days after farrowing the suckling behaviour of 7 sows and their piglets (n = 8-10 per sow) was recorded for 24 h. Piglets were separated from the sows and were released into the sow's pen every 35 min to allow them to suckle. Teat massaging movements and sows' grunts were...
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Relation between early fear- and anxiety-related behaviour and maternal ability in sows
| Contributor(s):: Janczak, A. M., Pedersen, L. J., Rydhmer, L., Bakken, M.
Fear induced by exposure to humans, and anxiety induced by novel environmental changes may both function as stressors and have negative effects on reproduction in pigs. An earlier experiment indicated that reactions to humans and novelty had some repeatability between the ages of 8 and 24 weeks,...
