The post-weaning behaviour of indoor-bred and outdoor-bred pigs

Webster, S. D.; Dawkins, M S

doi:10.1017/s1357729800055107

Cited by 20 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…This result is in contrast to Webster and Dawkins (2000), who did not find differences in skin blemish at slaughter between indoor and outdoor bred pigs. Mixing led to more unacceptable skin damage in the shoulder area and the whole carcass compared with non-mixing.…”

Section: Skin Damagecontrasting

confidence: 99%

“…De Jong et al (2000) showed that pigs raised in barren housing tended to spend more time walking, standing and manipulating other pigs during transport than pigs from the enriched environment and in the lairage they tended to spend more time walking and fighting. However, Webster and Dawkins (2000) did not find differences in the level of skin blemish at slaughter between indoor and outdoor bred pigs.…”

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 60%

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Effect of rearing system and mixing at loading on transport and lairage behaviour and meat quality: comparison of outdoor and conventionally raised pigs

Gade

2008

Animal

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The effect of raising pigs outdoors or conventionally in a barren environment was investigated with respect to behaviour during a 3 to 4 h journey and a 2 h lairage, blood chemistry at slaughter and meat quality characteristics. Pigs were either kept in farm pen groups or were mixed at loading and kept in the groups, so formed, until slaughter. Non-mixed outdoor pigs settled more quickly during transport and lay down to a greater extent at the end of the journey and lairage period compared with conventionally raised pigs. Mixing led to fewer pigs sitting and lying during transport for conventionally raised pigs, where nearly 80% were still standing at the end of the journey. Mixing had no effect on pig posture in the lairage. Outdoor pigs were less aggressive than conventionally raised pigs especially during lairage and had a lower frequency of unacceptable skin damage in the rear and shoulder area. Aggressive interactions were almost exclusively confined to mixed groups and occurred mainly between pigs from different farm pens, i.e. between unfamiliar animals. Mixing at loading led therefore to higher levels of unacceptable skin damage. Cortisol concentrations in slaughter blood were not affected by rearing system or mixing, but mixed, conventionally raised pigs had higher plasma creatine kinase (CK) activities than non-mixed ones (1132 v. 761 U/l, respectively, P , 0.05). Outdoor pigs had similar CK activities, irrespective of mixing (682 and 771 U/l for mixed and non-mixed, respectively). Muscle pH early post mortem was highest in outdoor pigs and muscle temperature lower, but no pig showed pH values below 6.0. Ultimate pH values were both higher (Semimembranosus (S)) and lower (Semispinalis capitis (SC)) than in conventionally raised pigs, and outdoor pigs tended to have a lower frequency of higher than normal pH values. Internal reflectance (MQM) values in Biceps femoris (BF) were highest in outdoor pigs but the incidence of pale, soft and exudative (PSE) meat was low, varying between 0% and 1% for experimental groups. In general, the effects of rearing system and mixing on meat quality measurements taken early post mortem or the day after slaughter were slight, but the trends seen support the CK results, and show that conventionally raised pigs may have found mixing pre-slaughter to be more physically stressful than outdoor pigs did.

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Section: Skin Damagecontrasting

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductioncontrasting

confidence: 60%

Effect of rearing system and mixing at loading on transport and lairage behaviour and meat quality: comparison of outdoor and conventionally raised pigs

Gade

2008

Animal

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“…This could partly be explained by the long lactation period, which prevents the growth check at weaning that usually happens in conventional production with earlier weaning (English et al, 1988). It has been shown that piglets kept outdoors start to explore and eat dry food earlier than piglets kept indoors (Webster & Dawkins, 2000;Cox & Cooper, 2001). In addition, a lower infection load outdoors (Pig Management, 1995;Engblom, 1999) could be a contributing factor.…”

Section: Growth and Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Production Results and Technological Meat Quality for Pigs in Indoor and Outdoor Rearing Systems

Stern

Heyer

Andersson

et al. 2003

Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science

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“…In order to overcome this problem, diets especially designed for the digestive system of very young piglets have been formulated (Dritz et al, 1996). However, because the behaviour of piglets weaned at very young ages indicates distress and suffering (Weary et al, 2008), the age for weaning should not be defined solely based on the performance of the animals.When lactation takes place in enriched, as opposed to conventional housing environments, the piglets' responses to weaning generally involve lower frequencies of aggression and abnormal behaviours, and higher frequencies of playing, feeding and resting behaviours (Webster and -E-mail: mjhotzel@cca.ufsc.br 102 Dawkins, 2000;Cox and Cooper, 2001;Hö tzel et al, 2004), as well as higher growth rates in the post-weaning period (O'Connell et al, 2005). Some factors that may underlie the different behavioural responses to weaning in piglets reared in conventional or outdoor systems are the opportunity to contact piglets of other litters during lactation, which decreases fighting after weaning (Pitts et al, 2000;Weary et al, 2002), and the reduction in suckling frequency, which seems to encourage the piglets to explore solid food and spend time away from the sow (Hö tzel et al, 2004).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

Hötzel

Filho

Irgang

et al. 2010

Animal

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Age at weaning affects the behaviour of piglets weaned in conventional confined environments. The adaptation of piglets to this event, which exposes piglets to important stressors, has not been examined in detail in outdoor systems. The aim of this study was to compare the behaviour of piglets weaned at 3 or 4 weeks of age in an outdoor production system. Six replicates of four piglets born and raised outdoors, originated from different litters but previously acquainted, were weaned at the age of approximately 20 (D20) or 30 (D30) days in 36 m 2 outdoor pens and offered high-quality diets. Their behaviour was recorded by direct visual observation during four consecutive days after weaning (days 1 to 4). Data were analysed by repeated measures ANOVA. An effect of weaning age was observed on feeding and rooting ( P , 0.01), and a day-by-weaning age interaction for escape attempts, vocalizing, walking and fighting ( P , 0.01), and playing ( P , 0.03). Compared to D30 piglets, D20 piglets showed a higher frequency of escape attempts on day 1, vocalized more during days 1 and 2, and walked more during days 1 to 3 ( P , 0.05). Feeding behaviour, on the other hand, was higher in D30 piglets on days 1 to 3 ( P , 0.05). On days 3 and 4, D30 piglets spent more time interacting with peers (playing and fighting; P , 0.05) and on day 4 were more active than D20 piglets ( P , 0.05). As previously reported in confined environments, age at weaning affected the behaviour of piglets raised on the outdoors system. Weaning appeared to be more stressful for the piglets at 3 than at 4 weeks of age. The impact of weaning age on welfare cannot be ignored, especially when outdoor breeding of pigs is proposed to address welfare concerns of the public.Keywords: pig, housing, social, ingestive, welfare ImplicationsIncreasing the age at weaning from 3 to 4 weeks improves the welfare of piglets reared outdoors by reducing distress behaviours and improving feeding behaviour. This is relevant considering that a key reason for rearing pigs in outdoor environments is to address ethical concerns of consumers regarding the wellbeing of the animals. IntroductionConventional weaning in the pig industry involves exposing young piglets to several concomitant stressors: transfer to a novel environment; separation from the sow and littermates, often mixing with unknown peers; and the loss of the main source of nutrition, i.e. milk. Because this is done without a period of transition necessary to make the solid feed attractive to the piglets, weaning generally is followed by a period of low feed intake (Weary et al., 2008). Additionally, at this age the digestive system of the piglets is not adapted to digest solid feed, which predisposes the young animals to diarrhoea and secondary infections (Dong and Pluske, 2007). In order to overcome this problem, diets especially designed for the digestive system of very young piglets have been formulated (Dritz et al., 1996). However, because the behaviour of piglets weaned at very young ages indicates distress an...

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The post-weaning behaviour of indoor-bred and outdoor-bred pigs

Cited by 20 publications

References 16 publications

Effect of rearing system and mixing at loading on transport and lairage behaviour and meat quality: comparison of outdoor and conventionally raised pigs

Effect of rearing system and mixing at loading on transport and lairage behaviour and meat quality: comparison of outdoor and conventionally raised pigs

Production Results and Technological Meat Quality for Pigs in Indoor and Outdoor Rearing Systems

Short-term behavioural effects of weaning age in outdoor-reared piglets

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