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Characterisation of behavioural types in pigs: The relationship between behaviour in an open field situation and social rank
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 November 2017
Extract
Abnormal behaviour can be caused by the animal's inability appropriately to express its “needs” (Hughes and Duncan, 1988) in modern husbandry circumstances. In pigs, close confinement and food restriction results in the development of abnormal stereotypies in some animals, but not in all. Individual temperament may influence the development of such behaviour and cause animals to cope differently with environmental stress (Terlouw et al., 1990). By determining an animal's temperament using individual behavioural characteristics, it may be possible to predict the response of a temperament “type” to certain conditions.
This study is part of a larger project concerned with the effects of housing and food level on the development of behaviours in group-housed sows. All the gilts entered a series of tests to measure individual characteristics prior to the main experiment. Two of the tests, one assessing an individual's response to a novel object and the other measuring social behaviour, are compared here.
- Type
- Pig Housing and Welfare
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1994