Read the summary and the most important questions on College 8 - Pigs II

• 1 Pregnant sows

• How are pregnant sows housed and what does this do for their health?

  • They are housed individually in stalls in which they have poor controllability and a lack of movement
  • This causes impaired mental and physical health:
    - Weak bones (65% of what they should be) and muscles
    - Leg problems
    - Changes in HPA-axis 
    - Stereotypies
    - Apathy (lack of feeling/emotions)

• 2 Stereotypies

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• To what are the stereotypies of sows related?

  • Individual stall housing
  • Low feeding level (40-60% of what they would eat when fed ad libitum), energy dense diets
  • Frustration of foraging behavior

• What part of the brain is involved in stereotypic behavior?

  The basal ganglia. Control and planning of movements.

• 3 Housing systems

• During what time period are sows group housed?

  From 4 weeks after breeding until 1 week before farrowing.

• What are the positive points of the Electronic Sow Feeder and the Individual Feeding Stable?

  ESF:
  

  • Individual feed per sow
  • They can choose when to eat
  • Lots of space

  IFS:  
  

  • They can al eat at the same time (no competition for feeding places)
  • Smaller groups -> they know each other 

• 4 Welfare issues in group-housed sows

• What are the main welfare issues in group-housed sows?

  • Leg problems
  • Aggression (new group members and around feeding)
  • Low feeding level + concentrate diets cause:
    - Hunger
    - Food competition
    - Aggression
    - Stereotypies

• How to reduce these problems?

  • Provision of space and complexity (hiding places)
  • Optimize rearing conditions (social skills, exercise)
  • Floor
    
  • Enrichment materials
  • Fibrous diets (increasing eating time and satiety)

• 5 Nestbuilding sows around parturition

• What happens when pigs have no space and/or nestbuilding material?

  • Sham-nestbuilding movements and high activity
  • Sows are willing to pay for materials
  • Higher ACTH, lower oxytocin levels
  • Increased length of parturition

• What happens when sows can show less nestbuilding behavior?

  • More savaging and crushing of piglets
  • Reduced responsiveness to piglets
  • Shorter duration of suckling period

• 6 Cold stress piglets

• Why does cold stress in piglets happen and what is their lower critical temperature?

  • Their lower critical temperature is 34º C.
  • It is caused by a lack of insulation and body reserves, which is caused by:
    - No fur, little hair
    - Little subcutaneous fat
    - No brown fat