The pig: A model for discussing animal behaviour and welfare
Publication Type: |
Journal Article |
Year of Publication: |
1989 |
Authors: |
G. Van Putten |
Publication/Journal: |
Applied Animal Behaviour Science |
Keywords: |
animal welfare, pig |
ISBN: |
0168-1591 |
Abstract:
In this contribution, the pig has been chosen as a typical example of a farm animal of which the wellbeing has been impaired by intensification of farm animal husbandry. Wellbeing principally refers to the individual animal. This does apply to pigs, but not, for instance, to chickens as these are generally only looked upon as a group. Other reasons for picking the pig are the large variety of housing systems and the large scale of behavioural and physical abnormalities, making this species a typical victim of intensive farming systems, closely confining sows in individual stalls. In the 1960s we were faced with three great problems: cannibalism, transport death due to stress and crushing of piglets; locomotion disturbances and reduced fertility were added. However, it was not until 1974 that welfare problems were openly discussed and only after 1980 could some practicable improvements be presented. Now, at the end of the 1980s, we are still facing a lot of problems regarding the welfare of pigs. There is the barren environment, the inability to groom themselves, the inability to prepare for farrowing in a proper way and the inability to practise the “five freedoms of movement” previously demanded by the Brambell Committee in 1965. Also, the number of diseases in pigs has increased considerably. Although we do know the reason for cannibalism, we restrict ourselves by reducing the symptoms; nearly all pigs in Europe have docked tails and clipped teeth! We have now arrived on the verge of introducing a new system in pig husbandry: group housing of sows. This development has been made possible by using computerized feeding systems with a transponder on each sow. At the moment, this system has not been properly sorted out. However, there are possibilities for improvements. Our ethical approach should be to regard it as our duty to solve the welfare problems of these new systems and not act as we did at the introduction of intensive farming systems; restricting ourselves to reducing the symptoms until the economic profits had been secured. The opportunities for really solving problems are still open, because of the interest of producers of computerized equipment and because of the interest of consumers who consider the method of production of animal products as a matter of quality. Both groups are prepared to pay for improvements. Research has a duty to respond to this challenge. Applied ethology, especially should use the knowledge obtained over the last 25 years for improving the husbandry systems which are introduced now. Thus the future for farm animals, in general, and for pigs, in particular, is more promising than it has ever been over the last three decades.