Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T15:22:13.323Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations on the pre- and post-weaning behaviour of piglets reared in commercial indoor and outdoor environments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

L. N. Cox  and
J. J. Cooper
L. N. Cox
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, De Montfort University, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EP
J. J. Cooper*
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, De Montfort University, Caythorpe, Lincolnshire NG32 3EP
*
†Corresponding author
Get access

Abstract

A number of behavioural problems are associated with weaning piglets including belly nosing, ear and tail biting, and low intake of solid food. These appear to be less pronounced in piglets reared on outdoor systems, which initially consume more solid food and show less belly nosing and aggression than comparable indoor-reared piglets. The objective of this study was to investigate how these differences in post-weaning behaviour relate to the piglets’ pre-weaning behaviour in the two rearing environments. The study was carried out at a commercial pig unit, where piglets of the same genotype are born into conventional indoor or outdoor farrowing systems. In the intensive system, sows were singly housed prior to farrowing in crates and their piglets received a solid ‘creep’ food prior to weaning. On the outdoor system, sows were allowed to build straw nests in arks for farrowing and both sow and piglets had access to pasture. Indoor and outdoor piglets were weaned at 24 (±3) days of age and mixed in straw-yard housing with access to a solid food. Prior to weaning, teat-directed activity was more common in indoor piglets than outdoor piglets. Outdoor piglets performed more rooting, standing and locomotion and were seen chewing the sows’ roll-nuts. Following weaning, outdoor-reared piglets performed more feeding and rooting, and less fighting than indoor-reared piglets. This study supports previous findings that undesirable activities such as fighting are less common in piglets weaned from outdoor systems, even when mixed with indoor piglets. In addition, outdoor-reared piglets were more likely to exploit solid food even though they did not have access to creep food prior to weaning.

Keywords

animal welfarebehaviourenrichmentpigsweaning
Type
Non-ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 72 , Issue 1 , February 2001 , pp. 75 - 86
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2001

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

A’Ness, P.J., Horrell, R. I. and Chen, T. S. 1997. The responsiveness of suckling piglets to solid food presented in different forms. In Animal choices (ed. Forbes, J. M., Lawrence, T. L. J., Rodway, R. G. and Varley, M. A.), British Society of Animal Science, occiasional publication no. 20, pp. 113–114.Google Scholar
Anisman, H., Zaharia, M. D., Meaney, M. J. and Merali, Z. 1998. Do early-life events permanently alter behavioral and hormonal responses to stressors? International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience 16: 149–164.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Appleby, M. C., Pajor, E. A. and Fraser, D. 1991. Effects of management options on creep feeding by piglets. Animal Production 53: 361–366.Google Scholar
Arey, D. S. and Franklin, M. F. 1995. Effects of straw and unfamiliarity on fighting between newly mixed growing piglets. Applied Animal Behavioural Science 45: 23–30.Google Scholar
Black, J. E. 1998. How a child builds its brain: some lessons from animal studies of neural plasticity. Preventive Medicine 27: 168–171.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Black, J. E., Sirevaag, A. M., Wallace, C. S., Savin, M. H. and Greenough, W. T. 1989. Effects of complex experience on somatic growth and organ development in rats. Developmental Psychobiology 22: 727–752.Google Scholar
Blecha, F., Pollmann, D. S. and Nichols, D. A. 1983. Weaning pigs at an early age decreases cellular immunity. Journal of Animal Science 56: 396–400.Google Scholar
Cooper, J. J., Cox, L. N. and Whitworth, C. 2000. Early environmental experience and transferable skills in the weaned piglet. In UFAW symposium on consciousness, cognition and animal welfare, p. 31 (abstr. ).Google Scholar
Dybkjaer, L. 1992. The identification of behavioural indicators of ‘stress’ in early weaned piglets. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 35: 135–147.Google Scholar
Fagan, R. 1981. Animal play behaviour. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Council. 1988. Assessment of pig production systems. FAWC, Surbiton, UK.Google Scholar
Farm Animal Welfare Council. 1996. Report on the welfare of pigs kept outdoors. FAWC, Surbiton, UK.Google Scholar
Fraser, D. 1978. Observations on the behavioural development of suckling and early weaned piglets during the first six weeks after birth. Animal Behaviour 26: 22–30.Google Scholar
Fraser, D., Feddes, J. J. R. and Pajor, E. A. 1994. The relationship between creep feeding behaviour of piglets and adaptation to weaning: effect of diet quality. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 74: 1–6.Google Scholar
Fraser, D., Phillips, P. A., Thompson, B. K. and Tennessen, T. 1991. Effect of straw on the behaviour of growing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 30: 307–318.Google Scholar
Grandin, T. 1989. Effect of rearing environment and environmental enrichment on behavior and neural development in young pigs. Ph.D. thesis. University of Illinois.Google Scholar
Greenough, W. T. and Juraska, J. M. 1979. Experience induced changes in fine brain structure: their behavioral implications. In Development and evolution of brain size: behavioral implications (ed. Hahn, M. E., Jensen, C. and Dudek, B. C.), pp. 295–320. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harlow, H. F. and Harlow, M. K. 1962. Social deprivation in monkeys. Scientific American 207: 136–146.Google Scholar
Healy, S. D. and Tovee, M. J. 1999. Environmental enrichment and impoverishment: neurophysiological effects. In Attitudes to animals (ed. Dolins, F. L.), pp. 54–76. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyes, C. M. and Galef, B. G. 1996. Social learning in animals. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Horrell, R. I. and A’Ness, P. J. 1998. The skills to cope with early-weaning in pigs: a comparison of indoor and outdoor. In Proceedings of the 32nd congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ed. Vessier, I. and Boissy, A.), p. 216. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, France.Google Scholar
Jarvinen, M. K., Morrow-Tesch, J., McGlone, J. J. and Powley, T. L. 1998. Effects of diverse developmental environments on neuronal morphology in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). Developmental Brain Research 107: 21–31.Google Scholar
Jensen, P. 1986. Observations on the maternal behaviour of free-ranging domestic pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 16: 131–142.Google Scholar
Jensen, P. 1995. The weaning process of free-ranging domestic pigs: within and between litter variations. Ethology 100: 14–25.Google Scholar
Jensen, P. and Recen, B. 1989. When to wean—observations from free-ranging domestic pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 23: 49–60.Google Scholar
Jensen, P. and Yngvesson, J. 1998. Aggression between unacquainted pigs-sequential assessment and the effects of familiarity and weight. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 58: 49–61.Google Scholar
Keeling, L. and Hurnik, J. F. 1996. Social facilitation and synchronisation of eating between familiar and unfamiliar newly weaned piglets. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica 46: 54–60.Google Scholar
Kempermann, G., Kuhn, H. G. and Gage, F. H. 1997. More hippocampal neurons in adult mice living in an enriched environment. Nature 386: 493–495.Google Scholar
Lammers, G. J. and Schouten, W. G. P. 1986. Effects of pen size during rearing on later agonistic behaviour in piglets. Netherlands Journal of Agricultural Science 33: 307–322.Google Scholar
Mendl, M. and Erhard, H. W. 1997. Social choices in farm animals: to fight or not to fight? In Animal choices (ed. Forbes, J. M, Lawrence, T. L. J., Rodway, R. G. and Varley, M. A.), British Society of Animal Science occasional publication no. 20, pp. 45–53.Google Scholar
Metz, J. H. M. and Gonyou, H. W. 1990. Effects of age and housing on the behavioural and haemolytic reaction of piglets to weaning. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 27: 299–309.Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. 1983. Codes of recommendations for the welfare of livestock: pigs. MAFF Publications, London.Google Scholar
Newberry, R. C. and Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1988. Development of some behaviour patterns in piglets under semi-natural conditions. Animal Production 46: 103–110.Google Scholar
Nicol, C. J. 1995. The social transmission of information and behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 44: 79–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pajor, E. A., Fraser, D. and Kramer, D. L. 1991. Consumption of solid feed by suckling pigs: individual variation and relation to weight gain. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 32: 139–155.Google Scholar
Putten, G. van and Dammers, J. 1976. A comparative study of the well-being of piglets reared conventionally and in cages. Applied Animal Ethology 6: 339–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushen, J. 1988. Assessment of fighting ability or simple habituation: what causes young pigs (Sus scrofa) to stop fighting? Aggressive Behaviour 14: 155–167.3.0.CO;2-T>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rushen, J. and Pajor, E. 1987. Offence and defence in fights between young pigs (Sus scrofa). Aggressive Behaviour 13: 329–346.3.0.CO;2-3>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schouten, W. G. P. 1986. Rearing conditions and behaviour in pigs. Ph.D. thesis, University of Wageningen. Google Scholar
Stangel, G. and Jensen, P. 1991. Behaviour of semi-naturally kept sows and piglets (except suckling) during 10 days postpartum. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 31: 211–227.Google Scholar
Stolba, A. and Wood-Gush, D. G. M. 1989. The behaviour of pigs in a semi-natural environment. Animal Production 48: 419–425.Google Scholar
Thornton, K. 1988. Outdoor pig production. Farming Press, Ipswich.Google Scholar
Walsh, R. N. and Cummins, R. A. 1975. Mechanisms mediating the production of environmentally induced brain changes. Psychological Bulletin 82: 986–1000.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Webster, S. D. 1997. The post-weaning behaviour of indoor bred and outdoor bred piglets. In Proceedings of the 31st congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology (ed. Hemsworth, P. H., Spinka, M. and Kostal, L.), p. 234. Research Institute of Animal Production, Unrineves, Czech Republic.Google Scholar
Wiepkema, P. R. 1987. Developmental aspects of motivated behavior in domestic animals. Journal of Animal Science 65: 1220–1227.Google Scholar
Worobec, E. K., Duncan, I. J. H. and Widowski, T. M. 1999. The effects of weaning at 7, 14 and 28 days on piglet behaviour. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 62: 173–182.Google Scholar
Worsaea, H. and Schmidt, M. 1980. Plasma cortisol and behaviour in early weaned piglets. Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica 21: 640–657.Google Scholar
Zentall, T. R. and Galef, B. G. 1988. Social learning: psychological and biological perspectives. Erlbaum, NJ.Google Scholar