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Time budgets of group-housed pigs in relation to social aggression and production

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Pig behavior continues to change for up to 9 wk after introduction into a new social group.

18 November 2021
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Commercial producers house growing pigs by sex and weight to allow for efficient use of resources and provide pigs the welfare benefits of interacting with their conspecifics and more freedom of movement. However, the introduction of unfamiliar pigs can cause increased aggression for 24 to 48 h as pigs establish social relationships. To address this issue, a better understanding of pig behavior is needed. The objectives of this study were to quantify time budgets of pigs following introduction into a new social group and how these changed over time and to investigate how social aggression influences the overall time budgets and production parameters. A total of 257 grow-finish Yorkshire barrows across 20 pens were introduced into new social groups at 10 wk of age (~23 kg) and observed for aggression and time budgets of behavior at four periods: immediately after introduction and 3, 6, and 9 wk later. Pigs were observed for the duration of total aggression and initiated aggression (s) for 9 h after introduction and for 4 h at 3, 6, and 9 wk later. Time budgets were created by scan sampling inactive, movement, ingestion, social, and exploration behaviors every 2 min for 4 h in the afternoon and summarizing the proportion of time each behavior was performed by period. The least square means of each behavior were compared across time points.

Pigs spent most of their time inactive. In general, the greatest change in pig behavior was observed between introduction and week 3, with gradual changes throughout the study period as pigs became more inactive and spent less time on other behaviors. Pigs’ nonaggressive behavior and production parameters were compared with aggression using generalized linear mixed models. The time pigs spent on nonaggressive behaviors was negatively related to aggression with few exceptions. Initiated aggression after introduction was negatively related to loin muscle area.

These results show how finishing pigs spend their time in commercial facilities and indicate that behavior continues to change for up to 9 wk after introduction into a new social group. Efforts to reduce chronic levels of aggression should focus on promoting nonaggressive behaviors, such as exploration and movement, after the initial fighting that occurs immediately after introduction has waned, and should be implemented for up to 9 wk after introduction into new social groups.

O′Malley CI, Steibel JP, Bates RO, Ernst CW, Siegford JM. Time budgets of group-housed pigs in relation to social aggression and production. Journal of Animal Science. 2021; 99(5): skab110. https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skab110

Article Comments

This area is not intended to be a place to consult authors about their articles, but rather a place for open discussion among pig333.com users.
24-Nov-2021 gerard.weijersValuable to learn the long time impact of mixing pigs, a common practice in our industry. I would be interested what the 333 community thinks: in larger groups (300-600 pigs) would we expect it to be longer or shorter? Or a change in intensity?
13-Dec-2021 carmen-cia-rodasthere is some interesting practical information on fighting in big groups in this article. Basically, the farm owner believes that fighting is less of a problem in his big groups as animals have more opportunitties to escape and finding a more peaceful corner!.
https://www.pig333.com/articles/large-group-finishing-barns-with-automatic-sorting_17944/
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