Turning a pigpen into a playpen can make for happier and healthier animals.
Enriching a pig’s life doesn’t have to be expensive, according to Dr. Yolande Seddon, a post-doctoral fellow in swine ethology with the Prairie Swine Centre.
In her presentation at the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2015, Dr. Seddon talked about meeting the enrichment goals in the Canadian Pig Code of Practice. The five areas of enrichment are social, physical, occupational, tactile and nutritional.
“There is an incredible amount of science on enrichment,” Dr. Seddon told the audience.
Yet, some of the best methods for stimulating pigs are home solutions. Enriching the lives of pigs will benefit the production system. “It is giving you tools to produce a better pig.”
One simple enrichment is adding music to the environment a few days a week. Do pigs prefer country or rock? Nickelback-bacon? “(Enrichment) starts in the farrowing room,” Dr. Seddon said.
“The environment you have those piglets developing in from birth is altering their behaviour later in life. When they go to market and they get mixed with unfamiliar animals before loading onto the truck, this research was able to show they fought significantly less. And instead of turning their attention to fighting with unfamiliar individuals, they instead had a great exploration of the environment. We are profoundly altering the behaviour of these animals through the enrichment provision.”
She said pigs like complex enrichments.
Dr. Seddon had some tips for the types of enrichments to add to a pen; *Make sure it is safe; *Make sure it is sanitary; *Make it soft; *Keep it simple; *Make it site specific. Don’t hamper access to the feed trough and access to water.
“They want to chew it and if possible they want to eat it and ingest it. They want to be able to destroy it, so it has to change shape.”
She said it is best to suspend toys to keep them out of the manure area. She said there are many commercial products on the market, but says a piece of cotton rope will often do the trick.
“Interacting with rope has been proven to be so effective. When provided correctly, it is at the same level as straw in terms of interaction.” She said the rope can be changed by adding knots, dipping it in a sugar solution or apple juice. “
They can chew it, they can destroy it and they can eat it. It’s not going to damage them. Don’t spend too much money on it; there is no need to. Develop a number of simple enrichments and rotate them between pens.”
Dr. Seddon said exercise has proven effective in hog production. She said there are fewer stillborns among sows in groups. “It is not known why this is? Is it leading to fewer stillborns because we have improved muscle tone of the sows?” Research at the swine centre has produced some surprising results in this area, she said.
“We have been comparing sows that have been in an early-mixing treatment — where they have been put into groups in weaning — to a group where they actually have still put in groups, but they have been mixed late — at 28 days of gestation. Even this was enough to create a change and reduce stillborns further. So that shocked us all. That extra ability to be loose from point of conception to 28 days of gestation was enough to reduce stillborns further.”
She said exercising sows is not viable in most operations and that should be reflected in the code of practice. “Physiologically exercise will be of benefit to the sow … but it’s not practical. And when it’s not practical, it is a bit of a no-go area. Let’s not agree to something we cannot do.” •
— By Cam Hutchinson
