What is a pig?
- Pigs are highly intelligent
- Metabolism similar to humans
- Used for xenotransplants
- Reproductive potential
- Polytocous/precocial
- Omnivorous
- primary sense is olfaction
Vision, hearing, and vocabulary in pigs?
VISION
* not great
* 310 degrees, monocular
* want to move towards light
HEARING
* can hear higher pitches than humans
VOCABULARY
* grunts, squeaks, barks (+), screams(-)… depends on context
what is wild pig behaviour?
European wild boar (Sus scrofus)
* Group of wild pigs is called a sounder - made up of related females and offspring
* Activity - 70% of awaketime foraging
* Diet - omnivours - tubers, small mammals, grass
* Gradual weaning between 12-26 weeks of age
* Predator (in the wild) or prey (in barn)
* originally from europe - brought as a speciality mean now invasive - let loose, escaped
Domestication in pigs
Sus scrofus domesticus
* Approximately 10,500 years ago
Did domestication change their behaviour?
* still do behavious just at different times
What is the pig park?
- Wood-Gush, Stolba, and Newberry in 1995
- Released domestic pigs into a wild environment
Domestic pigs performed same behaviours as their ancestors: - rooting, exploring, and foraging
- separate area for dunging
- separate area for nesting
- play
What is the biggest mistake during pig handling?
- rough handling - strong acute stress response
- over prodding
- over crowding
Pigs and stress
Pigs have a small heart compared to their body size
* susceptible to heat stress
* vasodilation -> drop in BP -> increased HR -> HEART FAILURE
Porcine Stress Syndrome (PSS)
* acute stress response -> negatively influences meat quality / economic return
* common problem in 1980’s, genetic marker identified in 1991
* testing and selection have eliminated the problem
Factors influencing stress
* psychological + physiological effects
* individual responses varies with genetics, lived experience, and health-
Stress physiology
* sympathetic-adrenal-medullary axis (SAM)
* epi and norepi
* fight or flight
hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)
- glucocorticoids (cortisol/corticosterone)
How do we measure stress and behaviour?
- We can measure stress responses by observing behaviour
- Vocalizations
- Social interactions - negative or positive
- Postures
- Activity - awake inactive, pen exploration
Behavioural tests
* NOT: Novel object test – exploration and fear
* OFT: Open field test - exploration and fear
* RIT: Resident-intruder test - aggression
Why do we have farrowing crates? Automated feeding? Early and abrupt weaning?
What is intensive farming in pigs?
- PRODUCTIVITY!!!!!
- Intensive agriculture took off after industrial revolution - less labour due to WWII, but still needed to increase production
- Intensive farming was not designed with the animal’s wellbeing in mind
- However, as we’ve learned more about how the behavioural and physical needs of the animal influences production, focus has shifted to applied ethological research
What are the major welffare issues in pigs?
- farrowing crates
- casteration + tail docking
- early + abrupt weaning
- stall housing
- barren environment
- mixing
- transport
What is farrowing crates?
Reduce crushing, simplify health checks/feeding
WILD:
* sow leaves group to farrow
* builds nest (internal or external control?)- both
INTENSIVE:
* sow restricted to a farrowing crate
* no substrates to build nest
* frustration, longer birthing intervals, greater chance of stillborns
What is casteration and tail docking and why do we do it?
- Common procedures approx. 2-3 days post-farrowing
- Pain management administered directly prior to processing- takes time to work so they still feel pain
Why do we castrate?
* boar taint and aggression
* alternatives- immunocasteration, sexed semen in progress, testing
Why do we tail dock?
* reduce chance of tail biting
* alternatives- remove sterotypy behaviour, change the environment
early and abrupt weaning in wild and intensive pigs?
WILD
* gradual weaning between 12-16 weeks of age
* slow and gradual exploration of piglets out of nest
INTENSIVE
* between 21-28 days of age
* abrupt: all piglets removed from pens, moved to new room
* sometimes moved in groups of ~100 to new room, sorted into new pens
* early mixing with unfamiliar piglets
What is stall housing for sows?
Gestating sows -> new code requirements
* all gestating sows will be in groups by 2029
* Breeding sows
* Farrowing sows
* Teaser board
Problems
* restricted freedom of movement -> freedom to perform normal behaviours?
* boredom and frustration -> development of abnormal behaviours
Barren environment in wild and intensive pigs?
WILD
* exploration
* foraging
* social relationships
INTENSIVE:
* concrete or hard plastic
* slatted floors
* enrichment -> Code requires all pigs to have multiple forms of enrichment - chain, health checks, being with/seeing other pigs
Why do we care about environmentfor pigs?
Psychological health
* boredom
* frustration
Abnormal behaviours
Damaging behaviours
* belly nosing, tail biting, pen-mate manipulation
When does mixing occur in wild and intensive pigs?
- Pigs fight at mixing to establish dominance hierarchies (fighting)
- how do they maintain thedominance hierarchies (avoidence)
WILD:
* sounders do not normally interact, mixing aggression relatively uncommon
INTENSIVE:
* weaning -> mixing event
* to grow-finish pens -> mixing event
* sorting based on weight -> mixing event
* shipping to abattoir -> mixing event
* lairage -> possible mixing event
explain transport in pigs?
- Long and short durations
- Challenges unique to Canada
- 40°C - -40°C, 80°C difference
- hyperthermia and frost bite
- long distances
Pig handling
* ramps, electric prods, unfamiliar hallways
and walkways
Stressors during transport
* temperature, humidity, sounds, vibrations
Arriving at abattoir
* lairage
* unfamiliar smells, sounds, stockpeople
what is current research in pigs?
- The effects of periodic enrichment during different life stages on thewelfare and production of growing pigs
- Identify whether the promotion of play can be used as a production tool to increase physiological and psychological robustness in pigs
- Animal-based post-mortem indicators that can link abattoir data to live animal measures
- Creating and validating a one-step electrocution euthanasia method for commercial use
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