The effects of prior experience of straw and depth of straw bedding on the behaviour of growing pigs

Abstract

UK legislation dictates that all pigs shall have access to straw or other material or object suitable to satisfy their behavioural needs (Welfare of Livestock Regulations, 1994). However, it is unknown how much straw must be provided to be behaviourally rewarding, and whether pigs’ prior experience of straw can impact upon their subsequent behavioural needs. Therefore, the aim of the current experiment was to investigate these issues by exposing pigs which did, or did not, have prior experience of straw to four levels of straw bed depth.