Abstracts - Management

Heat stress during the first half of gestation altered metabolic and body composition parameters during future development and in biological responses to a subsequent heat stress challenge.

Monitoring the evolution of the main biomarkers of autophagy and muscle antioxidant defense in the muscle tissue within the first 24 h postmortem may help the detection of animal stress and its potential effect on the postmortem muscle metabolism.

Improving farmers’ clinical diagnosis ability does not appear sufficient to effectively reduce this risk.

The present study emphasizes the need for both training of the laboratory staff in monitoring HCCP in routine semen production and audits in such AI centers for the external control of hygiene parameters.

Due to the difference in immune programming during early life, the systems respond differently to the post-weaning newly acquired microbiota. As a consequence, the gut systems of the treatment groups develop into different homeostasis.

Physiological post-mortem measures may, after the development of technological solutions for implementation at abattoirs, be used in daily operations as on-site tools for systematic monitoring of welfare.

Loose-housing of lactating gilts after a reduced postnatal crating period of 7 days affected neither the activity level of the gilts and lesions on the integument nor pre-weaning mortality. Therefore, it is recommended to allow sows to move around to some extent during the later lactation period.

The meta-analysis confirmed the significant effect of several well-known factors on the performance and efficiency of grower and finisher pigs, the effects of some less established ones and, importantly, the interactions between such factors.

In summary, this report demonstrates that decontamination protocols similar to those used here can lead to successful elimination of contaminating MRSA and ESBL-E in pigs and the stable environment. Nevertheless, decontamination protocols do not prevent the acquisition of new MRSA strains.

The aims of this study were to evaluate the ability of computed tomography, predict the chemical composition of live pigs and carcasses, compare the chemical composition of four different sex types at a commercial slaughter weight and model and evaluate the chemical component growth of these sex types.

Pre-weaning mortality (especially crushing by the sow) is higher in piglets raised in a multi-litter (ML) system until 9 weeks of age than in piglets raised in a single-litter (SL) system.

The results showed that organic iron complex did not improve the reproductive performance of sows or the growth performance of piglets.

Our results suggest that at least at the chosen stocking densities, parity and space allocation have minimal effect on a number of commonly-used welfare measures.

Results of the present study revealed that behavioural patterns that are established when suckling reappear when forced to form a new dominance hierarchy after weaning.

These baseline results suggest that oral-fluid samples can be collected from individually housed sows, but that further studies on the optimization of oral-fluid collection in the sow unit (gestation and farrowing) would be of value.

Overall, video imaging of fattening pigs appeared promising for real-time weight and growth monitoring. In this study the weight could be estimated with an accuracy of 97.5% in a group level.

Under the conditions of this study, plasma transfer alone does not improve survival of low-birth-weight piglets.

It appears that nest-building behaviour in prepartum sows could be enhanced by the provision of nesting materials. This, coupled with elevated oxytocin and prolactin concentrations, could result in improved postpartum nursing performance and maternal behaviour in early lactating sows.

This is the first study indicating a link between brain neurotransmission and tail biting behavior in pigs.

Therefore, our results suggest that low birth weight has minimal impact on meat quality.

The results of this study offer a promising application with regard to using SNP markers to reduce boar taint risk in Canadian pigs.

Keeping group-housed gestating sows on partly straw bedded floor with permanent access to the concrete feeding stalls compared to fully straw bedded floor did not significantly influence animal performance and NH3-emissions, and decreased CO2eq-emissions.

Crossbreeding appeared to have a greater impact on animal welfare and meat quality than vehicle type, but trailer type may emphasize these negative genotype-related defects.

We conclude that actions to improve animal welfare also have an economic impact as they enhance sow production. Good stockmanship and healthier animals result in more piglets born and a shorter reproduction cycle.