No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Mieux connaître le comportement du porc pour une bonne relation avec les humains en élevage
Abstract
La relation entre les porcs et les humains est au centre de l’élevage et est un des piliers du bien-être animal. L’humain, par son comportement et ses choix de pratiques, de conditions de logement et de gestion du troupeau va influencer l’état mental de ses animaux. Cette synthèse propose un bilan des travaux sur la relation humain-animal en élevage porcin. Les pratiques et les modes d’élevage ont un impact sur la relation à l’humain. Certaines pratiques sont source de douleur et de peur pour les porcelets, et provoquent des réactions ultérieures de peur vis-à-vis des humains, même inconnus. Inversement, des pratiques ayant pour but de développer une relation de proximité diminuent la peur des humains et favorisent une relation de confiance. En effet, les interactions humaines modifient le comportement des porcs. La présence humaine suffit à habituer un porcelet aux humains, même quelques minutes par jour. Parler aux animaux est primordial, y comprisin utero. Les porcelets apprécient les contacts tactiles doux, caresses ou grattages. L’humain, ainsi associé à des interactions positives, prend une valeur positive, ce qui permet d’instaurer un climat de confiance et peut susciter des émotions positives favorables au bien-être animal. Créer une bonne relation en élevage est donc essentiel. Ceci sera bénéfique non seulement au bien-être des porcs, mais aussi à la sécurité et la satisfaction au travail des éleveurs. Cela nécessite de mieux connaître le comportement des porcs pour davantage le prendre en compte. Le conseil et la formation aux éleveurs doivent intégrer ces connaissances.
... L'éthologie appliquée aux animaux d'élevage s'est développée depuis les années 1950 (Thierry & Kreutzer, 2021), en commençant par les comportements reproducteurs. Aujourd'hui, l'étude du comportement des animaux d'élevage aide à acquérir une meilleure compréhension des conditions et pratiques optimales d'élevage pour favoriser à la fois le bien-être animal et le travail de l'éleveur (Tallet et al., 2020). En effet, connaître le mode de vie des animaux que l'on élève, leurs besoins comportementaux, et être capable de détecter des anomalies ou des troubles dans leurs comportements est l'un des prérequis à un élevage respectueux du bien-être animal. ...
... Cette domestication a commencé parallèlement en Chine centrale et en Turquie orientale. Alors que les races et les conditions d'élevage actuelles sont multiples, les porcs domestiques (Sus scrofa domesticus) ont en commun d'être des omnivores sociaux qui ont développé des capacités relationnelles avec les humains qui les élèvent (Tallet et al., 2020). Ils ont une perception du monde qui leur est propre avec notamment de très bonnes acuités auditive et olfactive, de moindres acuités visuelle et tactile (Courboulay et al., 2021a) et d'excellentes capacités cognitives (Lori & Colvin, 2015). ...
L’étude du comportement animal, ou éthologie, apporte des connaissances sur les animaux d’élevage depuis les années 1950. Si les études se sont focalisées dans un premier temps sur les comportements d’intérêt pour la production (reproduction), elles permettent aujourd’hui de mieux connaître de nombreux autres comportements inhérents à la vie des animaux d’élevage. Le porc domestique a ainsi fait l’objet de nombreuses études, dont il est important de faire la synthèse. Cet article a donc pour objectif de faire le bilan des connaissances sur les différentes catégories de comportement du porc domestique : exploratoire, alimentaire, social, sexuel et parental, et de jeu. Chaque catégorie de comportement est décrite, ainsi que les facteurs l’influençant. Au travers de ce bilan, il ressort que certaines conditions et pratiques d’élevage permettent de favoriser l’expression des comportements des porcs. La connaissance et la mise en place de celles-ci peuvent permettre de répondre à certains besoins comportementaux pour un meilleur bien-être animal (réduction de la contention, enrichissement du milieu…). Cependant, favoriser l’expression des comportements naturels n’est pas toujours bénéfique pour les animaux, et comprendre leur expression est un moyen de trouver des solutions pour pallier les effets indésirables. Même si les recherches sur le comportement des porcs domestiques sont en expansion, elles doivent maintenant s’étendre à des sujets peu explorés à ce jour comme les comportements sociaux non hiérarchiques et le comportement maternel.
... Sixteen non-words such as 'mirlembar', 'vrapelu' and 'platinos' were generated in a way that no combination of three vowels was repeated. Sounds were recorded using a digital audio recorder (Olympus LS-P1) and spelled by a woman, as pigs show a preference for high-pitched voices (Tallet et al., 2020). Sounds were then standardized using Audacity 3.2.4. ...
During their first days of postnatal life, piglets reared for meat production are often subjected to numerous husbandry practices that cause injury of sensitive tissues and hence are potential sources of pain. The intensity and duration of the pain engendered depend on the nature and magnitude of tissue damage. Each of these practices is carried out for specific reasons, such as preventing boar taint (castration), reducing the risk of tail biting (tail docking), limiting lesions on siblings and the sow's teats (tooth resection), improving health (injections) or identifying animals (ear tagging or notching). This chapter will discuss the rationale and methods used, the evidence of pain during and shortly after the procedure, the long-term pain consequences, the consequences for health and human-animal relationships, the current options for pain mitigation and the pros and cons of avoiding these practices completely. Solutions are emerging to minimise the industry's dependence on these practices and, when still considered necessary, to enable selection of the least painful option and best mitigate any residual pain. A better knowledge of the affective component of the pain involved in the practices as well as the establishment of standard and validated protocols of pain evaluation are needed in order to move forward and determine the best solutions from an animal welfare perspective and feasibility by farmers.
The burgeoning research and applications of technological advances are launching the development of precision livestock farming. Through sensors (cameras, microphones and accelerometers), images, sounds and movements are combined with algorithms to non-invasively monitor animals to detect their welfare and predict productivity. In turn, this remote monitoring of livestock can provide quantitative and early alerts to situations of poor welfare requiring the stockperson’s attention. While swine practitioners’ skills include translation of pig data entry into pig health and well-being indices, many do not yet have enough familiarity to advise their clients on the adoption of precision livestock farming practices. This review, intended for swine veterinarians and specialists, (1) includes an introduction to algorithms and machine learning, (2) summarizes current literature on relevant sensors and sensor network systems, and drawing from industry pig welfare audit criteria, (3) explains how these applications can be used to improve swine welfare and meet current pork production stakeholder expectations. Swine practitioners, by virtue of their animal and client advocacy roles, interpretation of benchmarking data, and stewardship in regulatory and traceability programs, can play a broader role as advisors in the transfer of precision livestock farming technology, and its implications to their clients.
Farm animal welfare is a major concern for society and food production. To more accurately evaluate animal farming in general and to avoid exposing farm animals to poor welfare situations, it is necessary to understand not only their behavioral but also their cognitive needs and capacities. Thus, general knowledge of how farm animals perceive and interact with their environment is of major importance for a range of stakeholders, from citizens to politicians to cognitive ethologists to philosophers. This review aims to outline the current state of farm animal cognition research and focuses on ungulate livestock species, such as cattle, horses, pigs and small ruminants, and reflects upon a defined set of cognitive capacities (physical cognition: categorization, numerical ability, object permanence, reasoning, tool use; social cognition: individual discrimination and recognition, communication with humans, social learning, attribution of attention, prosociality, fairness). We identify a lack of information on certain aspects of physico-cognitive capacities in most farm animal species, such as numerosity discrimination and object permanence. This leads to further questions on how livestock comprehend their physical environment and understand causal relationships. Increasing our knowledge in this area will facilitate efforts to adjust husbandry systems and enrichment items to meet the needs and preferences of farm animals. Research in the socio-cognitive domain indicates that ungulate livestock possess sophisticated mental capacities, such as the discrimination between, and recognition of, conspecifics as well as human handlers using multiple modalities. Livestock also react to very subtle behavioral cues of conspecifics and humans. These socio-cognitive capacities can impact human-animal interactions during management practices and introduce ethical considerations on how to treat livestock in general. We emphasize the importance of gaining a better understanding of how livestock species interact with their physical and social environments, as this information can improve housing and management conditions and can be used to evaluate the use and treatment of animals during production.
Background: In 2010, the ‘European Declaration on alternatives to surgical castration of pigs’ was agreed. The
Declaration stipulates that from January 1, 2012, surgical castration of pigs shall only be performed with prolonged analgesia and/or anaesthesia and from 2018 surgical castration of pigs should be phased out altogether.
The Federation of Veterinarians of Europe together with the European Commission carried out an online survey via SurveyMonkey© to investigate the progress made in different European countries. This study provides descriptive information on the practice of piglet castration across 24 European countries. It gives also an overview on published literature regarding the practicability and effectiveness of the alternatives to surgical castration without anaesthesia/analgesia.
Results: Forty usable survey responses from 24 countries were received. Besides Ireland, Portugal, Spain and United Kingdom, who have of history in producing entire males, 18 countries surgically castrate 80% or more of their male pig population. Overall, in 5% of the male pigs surgically castrated across the 24 European countries surveyed, castration is performed with anaesthesia and analgesia and 41% with analgesia (alone). Meloxicam, ketoprofen and flunixin were the most frequently used drugs for analgesia. Procaine was the most frequent local anaesthetic. The sedative azaperone was frequently mentioned even though it does not have analgesic properties. Half of the countries surveyed believed that the method of anaesthesia/analgesia applied is not practicable and effective. However, countries that have experience in using both anaesthesia and post-operative analgesics, such as Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and The Netherlands, found this method practical and effective. The estimated average percentage of immunocastrated pigs in the countries surveyed was 2.7% (median = 0.2%), where Belgium presented the highest estimated percentage of immunocastrated pigs (18%).
Conclusion: The deadlines of January 1, 2012, and of 2018 are far from being met. The opinions on the animalwelfare- conformity and the practicability of the alternatives to surgical castration without analgesia/anaesthesia and the alternatives to surgical castration are widely dispersed. Although countries using analgesia/anaesthesia routinely found this method practical and effective, only few countries seem to aim at meeting the deadline to phase out surgical castration completely.
The legal status of the animal defined as a "sentient being" involves taking into account both the breeder's and animals' points of view for considering work in livestock productions and the human-animal relationship. Farmers' work efficiency, quality of life and animal welfare are targeted. This review paper focuses on a multidisciplinary approach, in particular between the social sciences and ethology in order to understand and improve husbandry practices critically affecting the human-animal relationship. On the one hand, a working time analysis focused on the human-animal contact, reveals a strong diversity among production systems and farms. The diversity in breeders' profiles, attitudes towards animals and their work with animals and in their husbandry strategies are reported. On the other hand, ethology elaborates a conceptual framework based on the fact that farmers and animals build their relationship from the repeated interactions they display. This relationship allows them to predict the issue of the future interactions. Observing the animal's responses to the human represents a synthetic evaluation tool for evaluating their relationship. Ethological studies showed that humans integrate the relational world of animals. This paper points out the interest of describing and evaluating the existing farmers' relational practices towards animals, and developing new and beneficial ones both for farmers and animals.
For animal scientists, understanding the diversity of individual relationships of livestock farmers for their work is required in order to design more sustainable livestock farming systems, especially from an ethical point of view. Three studies based on farmer's interviews were used to characterize the diversity of the farmers' relationships with work. They showed that, from the farmer's point of view, livestock farming does not just serve the purpose of producing. It also helps to build their identity and to live together with humans and animals. They made it clear that friendship, power, moral, self-fulfilment, the possibility to work with a spouse or family, outside, in contact with nature, at one's own pace, with self-decision and organisation making, are essential dimensions of working with livestock animals besides the economic and technical dimensions. The possibility for the farmers to feel pleasure or to suffer at work is conditioned by the work organisation. Based on these results, we propose two innovations to improve working conditions on the farm: the concept of a slaughter house on a truck as an alternative to industrialized slaughtering and an analysis framework to renew the farm advisory system dealing with work condition improvement.
The emotional state can influence decision-making under ambiguity. Cognitive bias tests (CBT) proved to be a promising indicator of the affective valence of animals in a context of farm animal welfare. Although it is well-known that humans can influence the intensity of fear and reactions of animals, research on cognitive bias often focusses on housing and management conditions and neglects the role of humans on emotional states of animals. The present study aimed at investigating whether humans can modulate the emotional state of weaned piglets. Fifty-four piglets received a chronic experience with humans: gentle (GEN), rough (ROU) or minimal contact (MIN). Simultaneously, they were individually trained on a go/no-go task to discriminate a positive auditory cue, associated with food reward in a trough, from a negative one, associated with punishments (e.g. water spray). Independently of the treatment (P = 0.82), 59% of piglets completed the training. Successfully trained piglets were then subjected to CBT, including ambiguous cues in presence or absence of a human observer. As hypothesized, GEN piglets showed a positive judgement bias, as shown by their higher percentage of go responses following an ambiguous cue compared to ROU (P = 0.03) and MIN (P = 0.02) piglets, whereas ROU and MIN piglets did not differ (P > 0.10). The presence of an observer during CBT did not modulate the percentage of go responses following an ambiguous cue (P > 0.10). However, regardless of the treatment, piglets spent less time in contact with the trough following positive cues during CBT in which the observer was present than absent (P < 0.0001). This study originally demonstrates that the nature of a chronic experience with humans can induce a judgement bias indicating that the emotional state of farm animals such as piglets can be affected by the way humans interact with them.
Perception of the environment by farm animals is fundamental for expression of behaviour and of their adaptation to different environmental conditions. From a breeding-environmental perspective, perception becomes increasingly important when a production system negatively impacts on animals such that their normal expression of behaviour is compromised. Therefore, research on the perceptual abilities of farm animals is of crucial importance to understand the animalenvironment relationship. This review is focused on research related to sensory perception of farm animals. It should be stressed that the world of animal senses is very difficult to explore, we have limited knowledge of the complexity of the animal’s ability to perceive and process environmental stimuli.
Humans are part of the environment of domestic animals and interact with them daily, providing a good basis for the study of interspecific relationships. Abilities to discriminate and recognise individuals form the basis of these relationships, and they are crucial skills for domestic animals, since individual humans can differ in their behaviour towards them. At the same time, with experience, animals may develop a general memory of humans and generalise their behaviour towards strangers. This study aimed to determine the extent to which weaned piglets can discriminate familiar humans and generalise their past experience when faced with unfamiliar humans. Forty-eight groups of three piglets were submitted to two consecutive 5-day conditioning periods of the same or opposite valence (positive and/or negative) given by one (A) or two (A then B) handlers. The reactivity of piglets to a motionless human and to an approaching human was measured before and after conditioning periods with unfamiliar and familiar handlers. Thereafter, piglets which received treatments with the two handlers A and B were subjected to a choice test between both handlers. The reactivity to an approaching human appeared to better reflect the past experience with familiar handlers since piglets clearly recognised them and adapted their behaviour accordingly. In contrast, reaction of piglets to a motionless human reflected their natural propensity to seek interaction, even after a negative experience. Although piglets were able to extend their memory of humans to an unfamiliar human through generalisation, many factors seemed to interact in this process, especially the complexity of the previous experience (inconsistent vs consistent) and the context in which piglets met the unfamiliar human (motionless vs approaching). We conclude that discrimination and generalisation processes of reactivity to humans do not simply rely on past interactions, but also depend on the context according to the degree of similitude with their past experience.
Social conflict is mostly studied in relation to aggression. A more integral approach, including aggressive and affiliative behaviour as well as physiology, may however give a better understanding of the animals' experience during social conflict. The experience of social conflict may also be reflected in the spatial distribution between conspecifics. The objective was to assess the relationship between behaviour, physiology, and spatial integration in pigs (Sus scrofa) during social conflict. Hereto, 64 groups of pigs (9 wk of age) were studied in a 24 h regrouping test whereby pairs of familiar pigs were grouped with 2 unfamiliar pairs, in either barren or straw-enriched housing. Data on aggressive and affiliative behaviour, skin lesions, body weight, and haptoglobin could be summarized into three principal component analysis factors. These three factors were analysed in relation to spatial integration, i.e. inter-individual distances and lying in body contact. Pigs stayed up to 24 h after encounter in closer proximity to the familiar pig than to unfamiliar pigs. Pigs with a high factor 1 score were more inactive, gave little social nosing, had many skin lesions and a high body weight. They tended to space further away from the familiar pig (b = 1.9 cm; P = 0.08) and unfamiliar ones (b = 0.7 cm; P = 0.05). Pigs that were involved in much aggression (factor 2), and that had a strong increase in haptoglobin (factor 3), tended to be relatively most far away from unfamiliar pigs (b = 0.03 times further; P = 0.08). Results on lying in body contact were coherent with results on distances. Pigs in enriched housing spaced further apart than pigs in barren housing (P<0.001). The combined analysis of measures revealed animals that may either promote or slow down group cohesion, which may not have become clear from single parameters. This emphasizes the importance of an integral approach to social conflict.
Even though of relatively short duration (approximately 4 h/sow/reproductive cycle), the time stockpersons spend in contact with reproductive sows and their piglets is of very high importance since it may influence both performance and welfare of the animals. During this time, numerous human-pig interactions occur, especially around birth, breeding and farrowing. These interactions can be qualified as positive, neutral or negative from the animal's perspective. In the present chapter, the literature regarding all types of handlings of sows and their litters is reviewed. Firstly, the immediate and long term effects that painful husbandry practices could have on suckling piglets and on their relationship with humans, as well as the effects that those practises could have on sows when performed nearby, are covered. Then, the consequences of interactions with sows that distinguish between handling during transfer and handling associated with breeding, farrowing supervision and other management tasks are discussed. The consequences of handling type on the reactions of sows and piglets to humans and the possible impacts of this handling on reproductive performance are evaluated. Finally, the question of new practices that could be developed to overbalance the negative interactions inherent to pig management systems, notably by using knowledge of the way animals express their needs or state, are addressed. This review clearly demonstrates the reciprocal effects of human-animal interactions on pigs and humans with consequences not only on performance but also on pig welfare and human satisfaction at work.
Research on the comprehension of human-given cues by domesticated as well as non-domesticated species has received considerable attention over the last decade. While several species seem to be capable of utilizing these cues, former work with domestic pigs (Sus scrofa domestica) has shown inconclusive results. In this study, we investigated the use of human-given cues in an object choice task by young domestic pigs (N = 17; 7 weeks of age) who had very limited human contact prior to the experiments. Subjects had to choose between two bowls of which only one was baited with a reward. Over the course of five experiments, pigs were able to use proximal and, with some constraints, also distal pointing cues presented in both a dynamic-sustained and in a momentary manner. When the experimenter was pointing from the incorrect bowl towards the correct one, most of the subjects had problems solving the task-indicating that some form of stimulus/local enhancement affected pigs' decision making. Interestingly, pigs were able to utilize the body and head orientation of a human experimenter to locate the hidden reward but failed to co-orient when head or body orientation of the experimenter was directed into distant space with no bowls present. Control trials ruled out the possibility that other factors (e.g. odour cues) affected subjects' choice behaviour. Learning during experiments played a minor role and only occurred in three out of twelve test conditions. We conclude that domestic pigs, even at a very young age, are skilful in utilizing various human-given cues in an object choice task-raising the question whether pigs only used stimulus/local enhancement and associative learning processes or whether they were able to comprehend the communicative nature of at least some of these cues.
Evidence exists that castration induces acute pain in piglets. However, little is known about the persistence of pain after the first few hours following castration. The purpose of this experiment was to assess whether behavioral and/or physiological signs indicative of pain persist over the 5 days following castration of piglets. Five-day-old piglets were either castrated, sham-castrated, or left undisturbed in their pen. Treatments were applied within litters. Two methods were used for behavioral observations: scan sampling using a detailed ethogram during the daytime and continuous observations during the night. Physiological responses were monitored through the measurement of corticosteroids and catecholamines in spontaneously voided urine. Behavioral observations performed over the 5 days following castration revealed that castrates (C) displayed reduced activity at the udder (massage + suckling) and remained more inactive while awake (P
Preweaning mortality varies greatly among herds and this is partly attributed to differences in farrowing house management. In this review, we describe the various management strategies than can be adopted to decrease mortality and critically examine the evidence that exists to support their use. First, we consider which management procedures are effective against specific causes of death: intrapartum stillbirth, hypothermia, starvation, disease, crushing, and savaging. The most effective techniques include intervention to assist dystocic sows, measures to prevent and treat sow hypogalactia, good farrowing house hygiene, providing newborn piglets with a warm microenvironment, early fostering of supernumerary piglets, methods that assist small and weak piglets to breathe and obtain colostrum, and intervention to prevent deaths from crushing and savaging. The provision of nest-building material and modifications to the pen to assist the sow when lying down may also be beneficial, but the evidence is less clear. Because most deaths occur around the time of farrowing and during the first few days of life, the periparturient period is a particularly important time for management interventions intended to reduce piglet mortality. A number of procedures require a stockperson to be present during and immediately after farrowing. Second, we consider the benefits of farrowing supervision for preweaning mortality in general, focusing particularly on methods for the treatment of dystocia and programs of piglet care that combine multiple procedures. Third, we discuss the need for good stockmanship if farrowing supervision is to be effective. Stockmanship refers not only to technical skills but also to the manner in which sows are handled because this influences their fearfulness of humans. We conclude that piglet survival can be improved by a range of management procedures, many of which occur in the perinatal period and require the supervision of farrowing by trained staff. Although this incurs additional labor costs, there is some evidence that this can be economically offset by improved piglet survival.
Noise is often overlooked as a potential source of fear for cattle during handling. Fifty-nine yearling beef heifers (362±26 kg) were used in a study to evaluate their behavioural and physiological response to noises during a 1-min exposure. In Trial 1, 29 heifers that were naive to the treatments were assigned to either prerecorded handling noise (Noise, n=14) composed of humans shouting and metal clanging or no prerecorded noise (Silence, n=15) and tested daily for 5 consecutive days. In Trial 2, the remaining 30 naive heifers were assigned to one of the two components of the Noise treatment, either the prerecorded voices of people shouting (Voice, n=15) or recorded noise of metal-on-metal clanging (Clanging, n=15) and again tested for 5 consecutive days. Heifers were tested individually while they were constrained on an electronic scale within a chute complex. Remote telemetry was used to record heart rate (HR). The behavioural response was quantified by an electronic movement-measuring device (MMD). The MMD monitors changes in voltage from the load cells of the electronic scale and records a peak when a trend in voltage is reversed. Heifers exposed to Noise had higher HR (P<0.01) and recorded more movement peaks (P<0.05) during the testing period than heifers exposed to Silence. When the Noise treatment was separated into the two components and played back in Trial 2, the sounds of humans shouting (Voice) appeared to be more alarming, based on HR and movement, than the sounds of metal striking metal (Clanging). Both the HR and the number of MMD peaks were greater for the Voice heifers (P<0.05 and P<0.01). Sounds were played back at equal volumes, therefore some intrinsic differences in the origin or significance of the sounds to the heifers must account for the differences in response. Heifers did show signs of habituation to the noises over the 5-day trials, but it is unknown if cattle would habituate to similar noises encountered during infrequent handling, as is typical with normal management procedures. By eliminating or reducing the sounds of metal clanging and particularly the sounds of humans shouting should help reduce the level of fear cattle experience during handling.
Parental recognition of offspring is important in highly social animals. Both wild and free-ranging domestic sows live in groups during lactation, except for a few days of isolation directly after parturition. It is therefore important that a sow is able to discriminate her own piglets from alien piglets both at close contact and from a distance. We investigated whether piglets' vocalizations at 10 days of age may serve this function. Vocalizations of own and alien piglets were recorded on day 9 postpartum whilst the piglets were isolated from the sow for 5 min (isolation calls, i-calls) and when piglets were returned to their sows afterwards (contact calls, c-calls). We first examined whether the two types of piglet vocalizations include cues which make it possible to discriminate between individual litters. A total of 2155 i-calls and 475 c-calls were sampled. From digitized calls, a total of 50 acoustic parameters were calculated and then subjected to a discriminant function analysis (forward stepwise method). Both i-calls and c-calls could be classified significantly better to the correct litters than would be expected by chance. In a playback experiment, whether sows isolated from their piglets respond more strongly to i-calls and c-calls of their own piglets than to alien calls was tested. For both the i-calls (N = 12 sows) and c-calls (N = 8 sows) sows responded with more vocalizations to the playback of own piglets' voices than to the playback of alien piglets' voices. The study shows that piglet calls contain acoustic cues that are litter typical and that sows are able to recognize their offspring based on these cues.
We investigated whether domestic sow discriminates one day old piglets based on their individual odours or based on some odour common to the whole litter. We manipulated the contacts between sow and piglets during the first 24 h post partum in such a way that produced 4 types of piglets, as combinations of two factors: relatedness and familiarity. We used ten pairs of sows individually housed in farrowing pens in which parturitions were induced on the same day. When the manipulations were finished, each sow was subjected to two testing situations. First it was a 5 min choice test in which the sow could show her preference for the 4 types of anaesthetized (immobile and mute) piglets: Own Familiar, Own Unfamiliar, Alien Familiar and Alien Unfamiliar. Second the sow was subjected to three 2.5 min preference tests with the following combinations of dyads of awake piglets: Own Familiar vs Alien Unfamiliar; Own Familiar vs Own Unfamiliar; Alien Unfamiliar vs Alien Familiar. We recorded the frequency and duration of visits and the grunting rate of sow with respect to each piglet type, in the test with awake piglets we also recorded piglets' vocalisation and movement. In the test with anaesthetized piglets we found a significant effect of piglet type on the duration of visits (F
(3,16) = 3.94, p = 0.014). The significant difference between Own Unfamiliar and Own Familiar piglets indicates that sows use the individual odours of piglets to discriminate between own and alien ones. The number of visits to individual piglets was also affected by piglet type (F
(3,16) = 2.71, p = 0.055), with sows visiting Own Familiar piglets significantly more often than Alien Unfamiliar ones. In none of the three preference tests with awake piglets did the sows show significant preference for a specific type of piglet. However the sows' visits in the piglets was affected by the piglets' activity. In periods when both the piglets were moving the sow spent a greater proportion of time by visiting them (Students t-test, N = 11, mean = 0.12, p = 0.0014) then during periods when only one or none of the piglets was moving. Sows also spent a greater proportion of time visiting the piglets when they were vocalising (Students t-test, N = 11, mean = 0.129, p = 0.019) than when they were not. The study shows that early recognition of piglets by sows is probably mediated by the individual odour of each piglet and that kinetic and acoustic cues augment the motivation to reunite with the piglets and this may then override the willingness to discriminate among them.
Human factors (attitudes, personality traits, self-esteem, job satisfaction) strongly determine our behaviour towards animals, animal production and animal welfare. Recent studies have emphasised positive human contacts as indicators of a stockperson's positive attitude towards animals and towards animal welfare in general. Stockmanship can be improved by careful selection of people and/or by training. However, little is known of the biological basis of the effect of stock handling procedures on the welfare of animals. The animal's perception of the stockperson (based both on emotional responses and cognitive aspects such as anticipation, recognition and categorisation), and the existence of sensitive periods in an animal's life, need to be explored in more depth, especially under farm conditions. We need to consider the complexity of human behaviour (eg husbandry practices, balance between positive and negative interactions, predictability, controllability) and its effect on animal welfare from the animal's point of view throughout its whole life. This paper identifies the importance of positive human contacts for both animals and stockpeople, and highlights the challenge to maintain such positive contacts despite the trend in modern agriculture to increase the number of animals per stockperson. This requires better knowledge of animal genetics, socialisation to humans during sensitive periods, and management of the social group. We emphasise the ethical importance of the human–animal relationship in the context of farm animal welfare and productivity.
Animal production, especially pork production, is facing growing international criticism. The greatest concerns relate to
the environment, the animals’ living conditions, and the occupational diseases. But human and animal conditions are rarely
considered together. Yet the living conditions at work and the emotional bond that inevitably forms bring the farm workers
and the animals to live very close, which leads to shared suffering. Suffering does spread from animals to human beings and
can cause workers physical, mental, and also moral suffering, which is all the more harmful due to the fact that it is concealed.
The conceptual tools used to conceal suffering (“animal welfare,” stress, pain) suggest that the industrial system can be
improved, whereas for farmers it is by definition incompatible with animal husbandry.
KeywordsPork production–Suffering–Human-animal relationships–Animal husbandry–Animal welfare–Work conditions
In this review, we assess the current state of knowledge on domestication of the major livestock species. We present first some historical background on location and dates of domestication of livestock. The characteristics that favoured domestication are described, especially gregariousness, precocity of young and diet. We then describe the genetic processes involved during domestication, i.e. uncontrolled processes such as inbreeding and genetic drift, partially controlled processes such as relaxation of natural selection and natural selection in captivity and controlled processes such as active selection. Details are also given on how the resource allocation theory explains changes occurring during domestication. The methods used to assess the extent to which domestication has changed animals (comparisons of wild and domestic stocks, longitudinal analysis and molecular genetics) are also listed. Finally, major behavioural modifications observed during domestication are described, including relationships with humans and predators, and social, feeding, reproductive and maternal behaviours as well as morphological changes.
PIGCAS (Attitudes, practices and state of the art regarding piglet castration in Europe) is to our knowledge the first project that has focused on castration practice across European countries (European Union minus Bulgaria, Malta and Romania, plus Norway and Switzerland). About 250 million pigs are slaughtered in Europe each year. Of the 125 million male pigs, approximately 20% are left entire, less than 3% are castrated with anaesthesia and the rest is castrated without anaesthesia. The study identified large variations in castration procedures, both within and between countries. In females, castration is very rare, but is practiced without anaesthesia in special breeds/production systems in some of the southern countries.
The aim of the present experiment was to investigate the effects of placing newborn piglets under the heat lamp or both drying and placing them under the heat lamp on piglet mortality. Sixty-seven healthy (Landrace × Yorkshire) sows were divided equally into three different experimental groups: a control group where the farrowings occurred without supervision from the farmer (C; n = 23 litters), another group where the piglets were placed under the heat lamp in the creep area immediately after birth (HL; n = 22 litters) and a third group where the piglets were dried with straw and paper towels followed by placing them under the heat lamp in the creep area immediately after birth (DHL; n = 22 litters). The sows were individually loose-housed in farrowing pens during farrowing and lactation. The piglets were not closed inside the creep area, but were free to move around in the pen. The routines in the experimental groups required the stock person to attend the farrowings from the onset of birth of the first piglet until the last piglet was born. All the dead piglets were weighed and subjected to a post mortem examination at the farm to ascertain the causes of death. Postnatal mortality (% of live born) was significantly lower in the HL and DHL groups than in the control group (P < 0.0001). This was significant concerning all causes of mortality. Compared to the control group, crushing occurred in significantly fewer litters when the piglets were both dried and placed under the heat lamp (P < 0.05). In the DHL treatment, crushing of one or more piglets by the sow occurred in only 13.6% of the litters, whereas this was increased to 34.8% in the HL and to 47.9% in the control group, respectively. All causes of death, except the proportion of stillborn piglets, increased significantly with increasing litter size. Because of the relatively large potential that these rather simple routines may have to improve piglet survival, different types of management or human interference around the time of farrowing should be compared on a larger scale, both experimentally and on commercial farms.
Behavioural modifications, including modifications of emotional reactivity, can occur following early experience such as handling (manual rubbing). Here, we investigated the effects of unilateral tactile stimulation at an early stage on emotional reactions later on. We handled newborn foals intensively on one side of their body. This early unilateral tactile experience had medium-term effects: the reactions of foals to a human approach, when they were 10 days old, differed according to the side stimulated at birth. Fewer right-handled foals accepted contact with humans, they delayed first contact longer and they evaded approaching humans sooner than did non-handled and left-handled foals. These results raise questions concerning the organization of neonatal care in animals and humans.
Vocal communication is of major social importance in pigs. Their auditory sensitivity goes beyond the intraspecific level; studies have shown that domestic pigs are sensitive to and can learn to recognise human voices. The question of which prosodic features (intonation, accentuation, rhythm) of human speech may matter to this recognition, however, remains open. A total of 42 piglets were allocated to three experimental groups. Each piglet was submitted to three choice tests, during which different pairs of sounds were broadcast. Each group was first offered a choice between an unmodified (neutral) human voice and a background noise, in order to verify the attractiveness of human voice. We found that piglets could distinguish human voice; they gazed more rapidly (P < 0.05) and for longer (P < 0.05) in the direction of the human voice than in the direction of the background noise. Group 1 was then submitted to artificially modified voices: low vs high-pitched, and then slow vs rapid rhythm. Group 2 was submitted to artificially modified voices with a combination of these features: rapid and high-pitched vs slow and low-pitched, and then slow and high-pitched vs rapid and low-pitched. Group 3 was submitted to naturally recorded voices coding for different emotions (happiness vs anger) and then different intonations (interrogation vs command). We found that piglets approached the loudspeaker broadcasting the rapid rhythm (6 s (2–32)) more rapidly than the loudspeaker broadcasting the slow rhythm (33 s (15–70); p < 0.05). They also spent more time near the loudspeaker broadcasting the “high-pitched and slow” voice (86 s (52–110)) than near the one broadcasting the “low-pitched and rapid” voice (29 s (9–73); W = 86, P < 0.05). In sum, the sensitivity of piglets for human prosody was moderate but not inexistent. Our results suggest that piglets base their responses to human voice on a combination of prosodic features.
In this selective review, examples are given of how different animal species use different sensory modalities in different ways. These examples serve to illustrate that we should not forget to take sensory abilities of the animals that we manage into account to ensure or improve their welfare. As humans we use predominantly vision and hearing, and do not always consider the housing and handling of animals as it is perceived by them. Through published studies on the use of sight, hearing, touch, and smell by different species, this review shows that these sensory modalities, alone or in combination, are pivotal for appropriate management of animals in our care. This includes exposure to and use of appropriate stimuli, as well as removal of potentially stressful sensory inputs. Such measures are important not only for the validity of research results, but also for improved animal welfare and production.
Research on human-animal relationship in animal production has been mainly focused on its effect on stress, productivity and meat quality. Only few studies have assessed its effects on the animals’ affective state. In the present study, the influence of positive and negative handling (PH and NH, respectively) on affective state and fear as assessed by the cognitive bias test, the novel object test and the defence cascade test was studied in 56 pigs. Serum, saliva and hair were sampled during the study for the analysis of cortisol concentration. Results showed no differences between PH and NH pigs in the behavioural tests, which may be either due to the lack of previous handling effect on the test results, the lack of validity or the low sensitivity of these tests or a combination of them. Moreover, no differences were found in cortisol concentrations between handling groups. However, correlations between tests were found (p < 0.05) suggesting that there are individual factors such as the fear level, the motivation or the coping style, that have a similar effect on the response to these tests. Moreover, pigs who were more fearful had higher (r = 0.37; p = 0.014) levels of serum cortisol at slaughter.
This study investigated whether individual behavioural characteristics of piglets and stress induced by experience with humans can influence learning performance. After weaning, piglets received a chronic experience with humans to modulate their emotional state: rough (ROU), gentle (GEN), or minimal (MIN) experience. Simultaneously, they were trained on a discrimination task. Afterward, their behaviour during challenge tests was assessed. The first learning step of the task involved associating a positive sound cue with a response (approach a trough) and success of piglets depended mostly on motivation to seek for reward. Although the experience with humans did not have direct effect, the degree of fear of handler, measured based on their reactivity to a human approach test, was related to motivation to seek rewards and learning speed of this first step in stressed ROU piglets, but not in MIN and GEN piglets. In contrast, the second learning step was more cognitively challenging, since it involved discrimination learning, including negative cues during which piglets had to learn to avoid the trough. Locomotion activity, measured during an open-field test, was associated with performance of the discrimination learning. To conclude, fearfulness towards humans and locomotion activity are linked with learning performance in relation to task complexity, highlighting the necessity to take into account these factors in animal research and management.
Fear is a motivational state aroused by certain specific stimuli that give rise to behaviour to escape. Pigs that are fearful of people are more difficult to handle. Fearful pigs will also have lower productivity on a variety of production parameters, such as weight gain and piglet production. Many studies have shown that pigs develop conditioned avoidance or approach responses depending on how they are treated by stock people. Examples of aversive negative treatments are slaps, kicks or shocks with electric prodders; examples of positive interactions are pats, strokes, or resting a hand on the back of the animal. Pigs that are handled in a negative manner often fear all humans, but there are some situations in which they can discriminate between aversive and positive handlers. The attitude of the stock person is very important and it is highly recommended that stock people are trained about pig behaviour to improve their attitudes towards animals. Stock people with positive attitudes towards pigs will have more productive pigs. Other subjects covered in this chapter are learning, the effects of environmental enrichment on pig handling and the behavioural principles of pig handling.
Domesticated animals show physical, behavioural and cognitive differences from their closest wild relatives. This may have resulted from the former's long and continued selection by humans throughout history, but in some cases it could just reflect developmental differences between wild and domestic animals, given that their environments usually differ significantly. In order to investigate possible effects of domestication and ontogeny on swine cognition, we tested wild boars and two groups of domestic pigs living in more and less enriched conditions. In an object choice paradigm subjects had to find food hidden in one of two containers. They received either a physical cue (i.e., the slope of the board hiding the food, the presence or absence of noise from a shaken container, the sight of a baited container changing position) or a human social cue (i.e., touching, pointing, gazing). According to the domestication hypothesis, given similar rearing conditions domestic pigs should perform better than wild boars when receiving social cues but worse when receiving physical cues. According to the developmental hypothesis, more experienced swine should perform better than less experienced swine both in the physical and in the social domain. Subjects performed better when provided with cues on which they had received adequate experience from their environment, thus providing support to the developmental hypothesis. We conclude by suggesting that specific experience on particular stimuli rather than general experience on a wider range of stimuli may explain swine ability to solve both social and physical tasks.
A knowledge of the influence of behavioural and non-behavioural characteristics of humans on the behavioural responses of pigs to humans is required for the development of approach and handling procedures by stockpersons which achieve and maintain human—animal relationships in which the animals are not fearful of humans.Three experiments were conducted to compare the nature of several possible signals which humans may release when interacting with pigs. The nature of the signals was compared by quantifying the approach behaviour of the pig to the experimenter releasing the appropriate signals in four 3-min tests over an 8-day period. Pigs approached the experimenter significantly more (P < 0.05) when he did not approach, squatted, had bare hands or did not initiate interactions compared with when he did approach, stood erect, had gloved hands or initiated interactions with the pig, respectively.
Behaviour is a significant component of well-being and should be properly considered in a pig welfare assessment. However, interpretation of variations in behaviour is usually not straightforward, especially when dealing with animals housed and managed in a variety of systems. The fourth principle of the Welfare Quality® project, labelled “Appropriate behaviour”, was assessed on 21 farms (11 extensive and 10 intensive) with a total of 25,856 Iberian pigs (Sus scrofa). The methodology included scan samplings of social and exploratory behaviour, human–animal relationship tests and qualitative behaviour assessments (QBA). Changes in occurrence of behaviour and qualitative measures were evaluated and discussed when comparing Iberian pigs either in intensive or extensive rearing conditions. Negative as well as positive social behaviours were significantly (P
Sow responsiveness towards external disturbances and concurrent postural changes are proposed to be an important cause of early piglet crushing. The aim of the present study was to assess whether loose housed sows change their responsiveness over time within the first 24h after birth of the first piglet upon exposure to different types of human contact and towards piglets’ scream. The responsiveness of the sows (n=17) was scored during: (i) blood sampling of the sow during 24h after the onset of parturition, (ii) human handling of a piglet at 0, 30min, 1, 2, 4, 8 and 24h after birth, (iii) screaming when a piglet was trapped underneath the sow and (iv) exposure to playback of piglets’ screams at 10 and 24h after the onset of parturition. A sow was scored as responsive if she changed her posture in response to the stimuli. The behavioral scores were analyzed during three predefined periods: parturition (from birth of first piglet to birth of last piglet), phase 1 (from birth of last piglet to 12h after birth of first piglet) and phase 2 (from 12h after birth of first piglet to 24h after birth of first piglet). The responsiveness of sows towards humans during blood sampling differed between the three periods (p
A non-invasive method was developed to study the transmission of cues that are used in social discrimination by pigs, Sus scrofa. We investigated the ability of juvenile pigs to discriminate between pairs of familiar, similar-aged conspecifics in a Y-maze learning task, using either single or paired visual, olfactory and auditory cues. The stimulus pigs (n=12) were littermates that were familiar but unrelated to the test pigs (n=12). For the bimodal task, test pigs (four per treatment) were presented with cues of two modalities: olfaction and vision (OV), vision and audition (AV), or audition and olfaction (AO). Approaches to a pre-determined correct stimulus were rewarded with food in daily sessions, each of 10 consecutive trials. Three consecutive successful sessions of ≥8/10 correct choices (P=0.00016) fulfilled the criterion for starting the unimodal task, during which test pigs were given either olfactory, visual or auditory cues only using the same success criterion. Eight pigs learnt the bimodal task (OV: 4, AV: 2, AO: 2) of which six pigs subsequently completed the unimodal task successfully (O: 3, V: 2, A: 1). These findings indicate that juvenile pigs have the cognitive capacity to discriminate between same-sex littermates that are also familiar group-members in the absence of either visual, olfactory or auditory cues, and that some can use just one of these modalities. A larger-scale study is needed to determine the sensory hierarchy of social discrimination in pigs.
Behavioural tests using operant conditioning were conducted to examine how miniature pigs discriminate between people. During a 3-week handling period, six 8-week-old pigs were touched and fed raisins as a reward whenever they approached their handler. In subsequent training, the handler and a non-handler wearing dark blue and white coveralls, respectively, and wearing different eau de toilette fragrances sat at each end of a Y-maze. Pigs were rewarded with raisins when they chose the handler. Successful discrimination occurred when the pig chose the handler at least 15 times in 20 trials (P
Since there is a number of common industry husbandry procedures conducted by stockpersons that may have rewarding or aversive elements for pigs, pigs may learn to associate these rewarding or aversive elements of a procedure with the handler conducting the procedure. Therefore, because of this second-order conditioning, changes in the behavioural response of pigs to humans may limit the productivity and welfare of pigs through a stress response. Experiment 1 was conducted to examine whether sexually unreceptive female pigs regularly introduced to boars in their accommodation pens for oestrus detection learn to associate the aversive elements of this procedure with the experimenter conducting the procedure. Experiment 2 was conducted to examine whether pigs fed by an experimenter learn to associate the rewarding elements of this procedure with the experimenter conducting the procedure. Two other treatments were imposed in each experiment as controls: a treatment in which pigs received human contact similar to that in the husbandry procedure, and a treatment in which pigs received minimal human contact. To examine whether gilts learnt to associate the rewarding or aversive elements of the procedures with the presence of humans, the approach behaviour of all pigs to the familiar experimenter and an unfamiliar experimenter was observed in a standard human approach test at the end of each experiment.
Humans will probably never experience the awareness of another species, but adopting a broad concept of awareness leads to the conclusion that other species have some awareness. The existence of a more complex mind in humans, compared with other species, leads some to suggest that awareness only exists in humans. We postulate that humans possess a significantly increased level of awareness, facilitated in particular by the acquisition of language, but that generally animals possess a level of awareness that is appropriate to their needs. Categories of awareness can be devised by identifying levels, such as are used in the identification of the conscious state in humans, or by ranking states of awareness in order of complexity. A scheme is proposed that combines these two approaches, which is considered suitable for use with domesticated animals. The advantages of identifying awareness as being sensation-, perception- or cognition-based are discussed, as well as the possibility of a scheme based on the degree and site of CNS processing. Finally, the acquisition of awareness by learning and inheritance is considered, and it is argued that in variable environments, animals will evolve increased awareness, whereas in very stable environments the energetic cost of awareness will encourage the evolution of less aware animals.
This study examined whether regular handling influenced the behavioral response and patterns of the pigs toward a human during the progress of the treatment. Eighteen 4-week-old crossbred weanling pigs from three litters were allotted at random within litters to one of two treatments. The pigs in the handling treatment were individually identified and received regular handling from the experimenter for 15 min, three times per week for 4 weeks. Besides this treatment, the pigs in the handling treatment received brushing for 15 min, once per week for 3 weeks. The pigs in the no-handling treatment had no contact with humans apart from that received during routine husbandry. A catching test was conducted on the pigs in the handling treatment once a week for 4 weeks, and the same test was imposed on the pigs in the no-handling treatment at the start of the experiment. At the end of the experimental period, an experimenter unknown to the pigs conducted the catching test on both treatment groups. The response of the pigs toward the experimenter was classified as either approaching or avoiding behaviors. Specific transitional patterns existed in pigs' physical interaction with a human. During the progression of the handling treatment, the proportion of avoidance behavior significantly (P < 0.05) decreased and the mean aversion score also significantly (P < 0.05) decreased. The variety of physical interactions significantly (P < 0.05) increased. As a consequence, the number of interactions observed in the handling treatment was more than that of the no-handling treatment during the catching test at the end of the experiment. The pigs receiving the regular handling repeatedly tried to make frequent physical contact with the experimenter in spite of repeated chasing and catching events. In conclusion, handling pigs regularly from 4 to 7 weeks of age increases their propensity to approach humans and the variety of their interactions with a human handler, possibly by reducing their fear of humans.
Fifty-two sows were subjected to a human approach test (HAT) at 2 weeks, and again at 3–4 days, before expected farrowing. Latency to contact and time spent exploring the experimenter, and overall confidence score (1=low to 6=high) were recorded. Fifty percentage of the sows received positive handling for 1min twice daily, 5 days a week from first HAT to farrowing, whilst the others were controls without additional handling. Behaviour was video-recorded from 2 days before until 4 days after farrowing.In the first HAT, 37% of sows immediately made contact with the experimenter (score 6), whereas 20% withdrew (scores 1 and 2). To give the sows a positive association to the handler, feed rewards were given. The sows accepted a feed nut from the hand significantly sooner than petting (P=0.05). After 2 weeks of handling, the confidence score had increased significantly (P
We studied experimentally whether horse dams influenced foals’ relationships with humans. We investigated the influence of the establishment of positive human–mare relationships on foals’ behaviour toward humans. Forty-one foals and their dams were involved in this experiment. Half of the mares were softly brushed and fed by hand during a short period (total of 1.25h) during the first 5 days of their foals’ lives (experimental group, n=21). The other mares were not handled experimentally and their foals received no contact with the experimenter (control group, n=20). The reactions of both experimental and control foals were recorded under various conditions, first, for 5min in the presence of a motionless experimenter, when foals were 15 and 30–35 days old, then in an approach test when they were 15 days old and in a saddle-pad tolerance test when they were 30–35 days old. Finally, approach-stroking tests were performed successively by the familiar experimenter when foals were 11–13 months old and by an unfamiliar person when they were 13–15 months old. Several observations strongly suggest that mares can influence their foals’ behaviour toward humans: (1) during the handling procedure, experimental foals of protective mares were further from the handler than foals of calm mares (p
In each of a series of 21 experiments designed to determine the sensory cues piglets may use to identify their own mothers, 20 piglets were given a choice, in a T maze, between two stimuli, identical in general nature except that one came from their mother or home pen and the other from unrelated pigs. In each case, an additional 20 control piglets, for whom neither stimulus was derived from their home environment, were also run. Two additional experiments, employing a further 422 piglets, in which response to specific stimuli was tested in more naturalistic settings, supplemented these findings. Piglets were found to be able to discriminate their whole home environment very reliably by 1 day of age. They could also distinguish odours derived from various sources on their mother compared with odours from other sows, including urine, faeces and the udder. In addition, they were able to identify their own sow's ‘calling-up’ vocalisations at 36 h of age. However, they seemed to be less good at discriminating their littermates from other piglets, though they could do so by 1 week of age provided body odours were not washed off or masked. Results are discussed in relation to the natural ethology of the pig.
The present experiment investigated the influence of pleasant or unpleasant handling by humans on the growth, carcass composition, adrenal morphology and behaviour of male pigs, between 40 and 90 kg bodyweight, housed in groups of eight in barren or enriched pens. Enriched pens were supplied with toys such as chains, tyres and bars. Pigs handled unpleasantly during rearing in both types of environment were significantly more fearful of humans (P<0.01) when tested after 24 handling periods. However, housing pigs in enriched pens reduced their fear of humans, regardless of handling treatment (P<0.05). Observations taken around the time of handling showed that unpleasantly handled pigs spent more time resting (P<0.05) and sitting or standing inactive (P<0.001), and less time interacting with other pigs. (P<0.01) than pigs handled pleasantly. In the enriched environment, pleasantly handled pigs showed more exploratory behaviour than unpleasantly handled pigs (P<0.01). There were no differences between treatments in mean growth rates, last rib fat depth, eye muscle area, or ratio of cross-sectional area of adrenal cortex to adrenal medulla.These results suggest that pigs housed in groups were not chronically stressed by unpleasant handling, even though they were highly fearful of humans. Social interactions and adoption of an inactive “cut-off” strategy through increased sitting and standing inactive may have protected the pigs from the physiological consequences of unpleasant handling (i.e., depressed growth and adrenal hypertrophy). Provision of toys in the enriched environment is suggested to have improved the welfare of the pigs by reducing their fear of humans, irrespective of the type of handling, and allowing the performance of exploratory behaviours otherwise unavailable, in barren environments.
This experiment examined the aversiveness of a new injection procedure (“Injection treatment”), developed for the daily administration of procine somatotropin to pigs, which was imposed on pigs over a 3 week period late in the growing phase. The injection was via a 13mm, 16 gauge needle and utilized a low penetration gas injection gun. Observations were conducted on the escape-avoidance responses of treated pigs to this injection procedure and to humans. In addition, the cortisol response to treatment and the cortisol response of pigs to an ACTH challenge were determined and the adrenal glands were weighed. To gauge a relative measure of the magnitude of these behavioural and physiological responses, a positive control (“Positive treatment”, a treatment with rewarding components such as a human patting and stroking approaching pigs), a negative control (“Negative treatment”, a treatment that is clearly aversive involving regular electric shocks) and a neutral control (“Control treatment”, a treatment with minimal human contact, similar to the amount of contact which occurs during routine husbandry) were included in the evaluation. Based on the relative behavioural and cortisol responses to treatment, the Injection treatment was judged to be moderately aversive. This relative assessment is based on three findings. Firstly, the escape-avoidance responses of pigs to the Injection treatment were intermediate between those of pigs to the Negative treatment and to the Control and Positive treatments. Secondly, the cortisol response of pigs to the Injection treatment was similar to that of pigs to the Control and Positive treatments but was lower (P ≤ 0.05) than that of pigs to the Negative treatment. Thirdly, in response to humans in a standardized test, pigs in the Injection treatment behaved similarly to those in the Control treatment for three of the four variables measured and significantly (P ≤ 0.05) different than those in the Negative treatment for three of the four variables. Although there was evidence that the pigs in the Negative treatment may have experienced a chronic physiological stress response with a significant (P ≤ 0.05) depression in growth rate, there was neither physiological nor production evidence to indicate that the Injection treatment adversely affected the long-term stress physiology of the pigs. In conclusion, the daily imposition of this new injection procedure over a 3-week period is moderately aversive to pigs and the welfare of these pigs is similar to that of pigs receiving minimal human contact as occurs in the routine husbandry of growing pigs.
The welfare of animals in extensive systems has received little attention despite significant welfare challenges in these environments. Additionally, recent reform of Common Agricultural Policy payments in the EU have put increasing financial emphasis on farmers to attain improved levels of animal welfare, although suitable methodologies for assessing animal welfare are lacking. Assessment of welfare in intensive systems frequently involves assessing compliance with buildings and space requirements, as well as behavioural observations of animals in their home pens and monitoring of health records. In extensive systems, however, many of these measures are inappropriate or impossible. Environments are often heterogeneous, animals may be difficult to observe, individuals may not be identifiable and health records may be limited or completely lacking. The expression of fear by extensive animals, which rarely come into close contact with humans, often limits the value and practicality of behavioural observations as welfare indicators. Currently, welfare audits of extensive farms rely greatly on mortality and morbidity records to determine welfare status. Whilst these measures are important, the strong health monitoring bias does not adequately allow an interpretation of the emotional experiences of extensive animals. We suggest that developing methodologies based on assessing key features of the environment, such as handling facilities, assessment of the skills, knowledge and planning of the stockperson, and assessing the animal at key points in the production cycle when they are gathered may allow a workable methodology for assessing animal welfare to be developed for extensive systems.
Considerable research into the role of the stockperson's attitude and behaviour on the behaviour, productivity and welfare of commercial pigs has been conducted. Recently, it has been demonstrated that a training program to modify the attitudes and behaviour of stockpeople on small and moderately sized commercial farms results in improvements in these variables and these improvements, in turn, lead to a reduction of fear in pigs and an improvement in reproductive performance. The aim of this study was to determine whether a similar training procedure would be effective in modifying stockperson behaviour at a large commercial farm in which the effects of peer pressure and the consequent increased homogeneity of stockperson behaviour may influence the effectiveness of the training programme. In addition, the effects of these modifica-tion procedures on other, job-related variables were investigated. A total of 43 stockpeople from a large commercial piggery participated in the study. They were assigned to one of two groups. The first group received a procedure to modify attitudes and behaviour towards pigs, and the second group received no intervention. Stockperson attitudes and behaviour improved following the training procedure and there was a tendency for pigs' withdrawal behaviour to be reduced. Surprisingly, 6 months after the completion of the study, the retention rate for employees who had participated in the training program was 61% compared to the rate for those who had not Ž . participated 47% . The results of this study confirm that stockperson attitudes and behaviour can be improved in a large commercial farm and that short-term effects on pig behaviour can be observed. Stockpeople who have been trained are also more likely to remain in the job. Taken in conjunction with earlier research, there is a strong case for introducing stockperson training) Corresponding author.
This study examined the ability of miniature pigs to discriminate between a stranger and their accustomed handler. Five 8-week-old Göttingen line miniature pigs were used for two experiments. They interacted daily with their handler in a pen daily for 5 weeks before and 4 weeks during the experiments. During this interaction, the pigs were gently touched, talked to in a quiet soft voice, and fed raisins as a reward whenever they approached the handler. They were then trained to receive the reward from the handler in a Y-maze installed in an experimental room. In Experiment 1, each pig was subjected each day to a series of 20 trials. In each trial, the pig was given the opportunity to choose the handler or stranger, who occupied positions assigned at random in each trial at the ends of the two arms of the maze. A choice of the handler in each trial was rewarded with raisins dispensed by the handler. The criterion for successful discrimination was that the pig made at least 15 correct choices in 20 trials (75% correct choice rate: P<0.05). All the pigs exceeded the criterion within four sessions and therefore were able to discriminate between the handler and the stranger. However, two pigs exhibited stimulus generalization toward the experimenters in the early sessions. In Experiment 2, the voice, odor and sight of the handler and the stranger were obscured in various combinations. The seven treatments were nonobstruction of visual (V), auditory (A), olfactory (O), visual and auditory (VA), visual and olfactory (VO), auditory and olfactory (AO) and obstructions of all (NO) cues, respectively. There were no pigs which achieved successful discrimination in all the treatments, and there were individual variations in their performance. In conclusion, the pigs could discriminate between a stranger and their familiar handler with all three cues, but obstruction of visual, auditory and/or olfactory cues affected their discrimination. It seems that olfactory cues alone were of little importance.
Market pigs weighing 90–113 kg and mature sows were observed while being handled in commercial slaughter plants. In abattoirs slaughtering 500 or more pigs per hour, jamming at the single-file race entrance was reduced by installing two single-file races side by side, with a wedge-shaped partition centered between the two single-file race entrances. The wedge was 66 cm long and 25 cm wide at the base. It induced one pig to step aside and prevented three animals from jamming the entrance. Redesigned crowd pens also reduced excitement and jamming because the handler could direct the leaders into the single-file race instead of pushing a group of pigs from the rear. The center fence in a twin single-file race should be constructed so that the pigs can see each other, to encourage following behavior. The entrance gate to the crowd pen and the pen itself must have solid sides, to prevent pigs from attempting to return to the stockyards. Pigs moved more readily in single-file races with solid side fences and open barred tops than in races with partially solid tops. Crowd pens should have level floors and ramps should be avoided. Pigs have 310° panoramic vision, and puddles and shadows should be eliminated. Pigs tended to move from a darker area to a brightly illuminated area under artificial lighting. Animals raised in dimly illuminated confinement buildings refused to move towards direct sunlight.