Evaluation of Methods to Reduce Fighting Among Regrouped Gilts

Luescher, U. A.; Friendship, Robert; McKeown, Donal

doi:10.4141/cjas90-048

Cited by 52 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…When fighting, pigs target the head, neck and ears of the other pig using bites and slashes from the canine teeth (McGlone and Curtis, 1985;Luescher et al, 1990;Turner et al, 2006). This aggression results in superficial skin lesions (Stukenborg et al, 2011) predominantly to the front third of the body (Turner et al, 2006;Spoolder et al, 2009).…”

Section: Injurymentioning

confidence: 98%

Hierarchy formation in newly mixed, group housed sows and management strategies aimed at reducing its impact

Greenwood

Plush

Wettere

et al. 2014

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Section: Injurymentioning

confidence: 98%

Hierarchy formation in newly mixed, group housed sows and management strategies aimed at reducing its impact

Greenwood

Plush

Wettere

et al. 2014

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…Increased space allowance positively affected body weight and backfat and reduced the level of skin lesions, but litter size was not affected. Based on the assumption that aggression in sows is a major determinant of reduced reproductive performance during pregnancy, Kirkwood and Zanella (2005) investigated if boar presence (known to decrease aggression among weaned sows and gilts; Luescher et al, 1990) would benefit reproductive performance. In their first experiment they entered sows into a stable outdoor groups of 50 during the first week after breeding.…”

Section: Stressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group housing of sows in early pregnancy: A review of success and risk factors

Geudeke²,

et al. 2009

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“…However, a major concern with group housing is aggression at mixing, which impairs both the welfare and performance of sows (Olsson and Svendsen, 1997;Hodgkiss et al, 1998). Aggression is associated with excitement, and suppressing excitement at mixing reduces aggression (Luescher et al, 1990). Tryptophan, a precursor of serotonin, reduces aggression in humans and animals (Bosch et al, 2007;McGloskey et al, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Effects of tryptophan supplementation on aggression among group-housed gestating sows1

Baidoo

Johnston

et al. 2011

Journal of Animal Science

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The objective of this study was to determine the effects of dietary Trp supplementation on mixing-induced aggression and the associated stress, and on reproductive performance in gestating sows. After weaning, sows were mixed in pens with electronic sow feeders on concrete-slatted floors. Each pen housed 21 ± 2.8 sows, with approximately 2.7 ± 0.43 m(2)/sow of floor space allowance. Multiparous sows (n = 168) from 8 breeding groups were used, with 4 groups assigned to a control diet and 4 groups assigned to a high-Trp diet. Control sows received corn- and soybean meal-based diets throughout gestation (0.15% Trp) and lactation (0.21% Trp). Three days before and after mixing, sows assigned to the high-Trp treatment received approximately 2.3 times the dietary Trp (0.35% in the gestation diet and 0.48% in the lactation diet) fed to control sows. Six focal sows (2 sows from each of parity 1, 2, and 3 or greater) in each pen were designated and videotaped for 72 h after mixing to determine the type and number of aggressive interactions among sows. Before and 48 h after mixing, saliva samples were collected from focal sows, and scratches were assessed on all sows. Data were analyzed using the FREQ and GLIMMIX procedures (SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC). Aggression among sows was intense during the initial 6 h and decreased between 6 and 72 h after mixing. The initial aggression caused scratches and increased cortisol concentrations (P < 0.05). Mature sows tended to fight for longer periods (112 vs. 52 s/h per sow, SE = 23.8; P < 0.10) but had fewer scratches caused by aggression (injury score = 4.3 vs. 6.5, SE = 1.13; P < 0.01) than parity-1 sows. Supplementation of dietary Trp reduced the total duration of head-to-head knocking (P < 0.05) but did not affect other aggressive behaviors. There was no difference between dietary treatments in injury scores or saliva cortisol concentrations. Sows in the high-Trp treatment had more total piglets born (12.5 vs. 10.5 pigs/litter, SE = 0.55; P < 0.05) and more stillborn piglets (1.5 vs. 0.8 pigs/litter, SE = 0.20; P < 0.05), but had no significant change (P = 0.12) in piglets born alive (10.8 vs. 9.7 pigs/litter, SE = 0.42) compared with control sows. The results indicate that the initial aggression after mixing caused more injuries in young sows than in mature sows. Supplementation of dietary Trp at 2.3 times the control amount for a short period did not effectively reduce aggression and the associated stress in sows at mixing.

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Evaluation of Methods to Reduce Fighting Among Regrouped Gilts

Cited by 52 publications

References 15 publications

Hierarchy formation in newly mixed, group housed sows and management strategies aimed at reducing its impact

Hierarchy formation in newly mixed, group housed sows and management strategies aimed at reducing its impact

Group housing of sows in early pregnancy: A review of success and risk factors

Effects of tryptophan supplementation on aggression among group-housed gestating sows1

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