Epidemiological evaluation of pain in swine herds
“Epidemiological Evaluation of Pain in Swine Herds” AND “Effect of Lameness in Pigs in Terms of “Five Freedoms””
The Effect of Environmental Manipulation on Behavior, Salivary Cortisol, and Growth of Piglets Weaned at 14 Days of Age
Environmental enrichment can be a useful tool to reduce belly nosing behaviors in early weaned piglets. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of environmental enrichment on behavior, salivary cortisol, and productivity of piglets weaned at 14 days of age. The study assigned 112 piglets (line Camborough 22 of PIC) into 2 […]
An ethological definition of animal welfare with special emphasis on pig behaviour
none
Slaughter Plants: Behavior and Welfare Assessment
The numerical scoring system provides a simple-to-use tool for inspectors, veterinarians, and managers to use for assessing animal welfare in slaughter plants. There is a need to do further research to relate animal behaviors that are easily observed in the slaughter plant to both physiological and brain function measures.
Socialising piglets before weaning improves social hierarchy formation when pigs are mixed post-weaning
Weaning of piglets involves a combination of stressors: a change of environment and diet, separation from the sow and mixing of unfamiliar litters. If litters are mixed before weaning instead, aggression and mixing stress are reduced. The present study aimed to test whether pre-weaning mixing of litters (socialisation) has longer-term benefits by reducing aggression and […]
Cognitive testing of pigs (Sus scrofa) in translational biobehavioral research
Within neuroscience and biobehavioral research, the pig (Sus scrofus) is increasingly being acknowledged as a valuable large animal species. Compared to the rodent brain, the pig brain more closely resembles the human brain in terms of both anatomy and biochemistry, which associates the pig with a higher translational value. Several brain disorders have been fully […]
Responses of slaughter pigs to transport and lairage sounds
The behavioral and physiological responses of pigs to transport and subsequent exposure to slaughterhouse sounds were examined. Forty-one groups of four slaughter pigs were separately loaded onto a lorry and transported for 25 min. Another 43 groups were loaded onto the lorry which then remained stationary for 25 min. Following unloading pigs were moved to […]
Vocal response to pain in piglets
Three experiments were performed attempting to establish the validity of vocal measures as an indicator of the immediate response to pain in domestic piglets. Vocalisations were measured while piglets were subjected to the routine farm practice of castration without anaesthetic, or restrained identically but not castrated (i.e., sham-castrated). In Experiment 1 we measured how calling […]
Effect of genetic homogeneity on behavioural variability in an object recognition test in cloned Göttingen minipigs
The number of animals used in research should be limited as much as possible. Among cloned animals, genetic variation is minimal and to the extent that behaviour is genetically determined inter-individual variability is expected to be higher among naturally bred animals. However, the cloning procedure per se might affect the resultant phenotype leading to phenotypic […]
The effect of domestication and ontogeny in swine cognition (Sus scrofa scrofa and S. s. domestica)
Domesticated animals show physical, behavioural and cognitive differences from their closest wild relatives. This may have resulted from the former’s long and continued selection by humans throughout history, but in some cases it could just reflect developmental differences between wild and domestic animals, given that their environments usually differ significantly. In order to investigate possible […]