Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T01:40:54.297Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Social hierarchy and feeder access in a group of 20 sows using a computer-controlled feeder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

E. J. Hunter ,
D. M. Broom ,
S. A. Edwards  and
R. M. Sibly
E. J. Hunter
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AJ
D. M. Broom
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AJ
S. A. Edwards
Affiliation:
MAFF Terrington Experimental Husbandry Farm, Terrington St Clement, Kings Lynn, Norfolk PE34 4PW
R. M. Sibly
Affiliation:
Department of Pure and Applied Zoology, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 2AJ
Get access

Abstract

Twenty pregnant sows sharing a double-entry back-out Pig Code feeder with a similar group of 20 were observed over six 24-h feed cycles by a combination of direct observation and video recording. The group had access to an area of 47 m2. Sows were fed once a day on a pelleted diet and water was continually available. Feeding order was relatively constant from day to day, and was positively correlated with parity. A social hierarchy based on displacements and attacks within pairs of sows was found to be basically linear, with the exception of six reversals of dominance. Social hierarchy was positively correlated with feeding order overall, but this was not the case for the latter half of the feeding order. This was partly due to disruption of feeder use by non-feeding visits made by early-feeding dominant sows. Overall the results showed that older sows with more experience of the feeder in two or three previous parities were higher in the feeding order and social hierarchy than younger sows, and may exclude them from the feeder by repeated non-feeding visits.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , August 1988 , pp. 139 - 148
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Beckett, M. P., Edwards, S. A., Simmins, P. H. and Walker, A. J. 1986. Electronic identification and individual feeding of sows in a very large group. Animal Production 42: 468 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Daniel, W. W. 1978. Applied Non-Parametric Statistics. Houghton and Mifflin.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. A. 1985. Group housing systems for dry sows. Farm Buildings Progress 80: 19–22.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. A., Armsby, A. W. and Large, J. W. 1984. Behaviour of group-housed sows using an electronic individual feeding system. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Applied Ethology in Farm Animals (ed. Unshelm, J., Putten, G. van and Zeeb, K.), pp. 232–235. KTBL, Darmstadt.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. A. and Riley, J. E. 1986. The application of the electronic identification and computerized feed dispensing system in dry sow housing. Pig News and Information 7: 295–298.Google Scholar
Gage, F. H. 1978. A multivariate approach to the analysis of social dominance. Behavioural Biology 23: 38–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, L. L., Hagelso, A. M. and Madsen, A. 1982. Behavioural results and performance of bacon pigs fed ad libitum from one or several self-feeders. Applied Animal Ethology 8: 307–333.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, P. 1980. An ethogram of social interaction patterns in group-housed dry sows. Applied Animal Ethology 6: 341–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, P. 1982. An analysis of agonistic interaction patterns in group-housed dry sows — aggression regulation through an ‘avoidance order’. Applied Animal Ethology 9: 47–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jensen, P. and Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1984. Social interactions in a group of free-ranging sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 12: 327–337.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, R. J., Ellis, M. and Rowlinson, P. 1985. The effect of feeding frequency on levels of aggression and 24-h behaviour patterns of large groups of group-housed dry sows. Animal Production 40: 546 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Lambert, R. J., Ellis, M. and Rowlinson, P. 1986. An assessment of an electronic feeding system and ‘dynamic’ grouping in loose-housed sows. Animal Production 42: 468 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Martin, M. and Bateson, P. 1986. Measuring Behaviour. An Introductory Guide. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Meese, G. B. and Ewbank, R. 1972. A note on instability of the dominance hierarchy and variations in level of aggression within groups of fattening pigs. Animal Production 14: 359–362.Google Scholar
Olsson, A.-C., Andersson, M., Rantzer, D., Svendsen, J. and Hellstrom, T. 1986. [Group housing of sows in gestation.] Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, lnstitut för Lantbrukets Byggnadsteknik, Rapport 51, Lund.Google Scholar
Reinhardt, V. and Reinhardt, A. 1975. Dynamics of social hierarchy in a dairy herd. Zeitschrift fur Tierpsychologie 38: 315–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schnebel, E. M. and Griswold, J. G. 1983. Agonistic interactions during competition for different resources in captive European wild pigs (Sus scrofa). Applied Animal Ethology 10: 291–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar