Farrowing conditions affect the reactions of piglets towards novel environment and social confrontation at weaning

At weaning piglets are confronted with a variety of challenges. In this study, we tested the effect of two rearing conditions on the behavioural responses of piglets towards social and non-social challenges at the time of weaning. A total of 81 piglets were reared either in an individual farrowing s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied animal behaviour science 2003-04, Vol.81 (2), p.99-109
Main Authors: Hillmann, Edna, von Hollen, Felicitas, Bünger, Beate, Todt, Dietmar, Schrader, Lars
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behaviour
Enrichment
Novel environment
Piglets
Rearing
Social encounter
Weaning
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Summary:At weaning piglets are confronted with a variety of challenges. In this study, we tested the effect of two rearing conditions on the behavioural responses of piglets towards social and non-social challenges at the time of weaning. A total of 81 piglets were reared either in an individual farrowing system with extra-space and straw (IF, n=5 litters) or in a group farrowing system (GF, n=5 litters). Two days before and 2–3 days after weaning piglets were subjected to a novel environment test and a social confrontation test for 10 min each. In the novel environment test IF-piglets spent significantly less time exploring objects in the test arena ( P
ISSN:0168-1591
1872-9045
DOI:10.1016/S0168-1591(02)00254-X