Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

The Swedish Welfare Act § 4 says that "Animals must be kept and cared for in a good environment for animals and in such a way that promotes their health and allow them to behave naturally." Pigs in the wild spend 80% of their waking hours walking around and rooting for food, eating and exploring their environment with its snout. Fattening pigs in commercial farms spend 80% lying doing nothing. A lactating sow is lying down most of her day, and only 10-20% of the body surface is in contact with the floor, so the pressure is high on these spots. Piglets lie down and paddle with their legs, with high liquid content in the tissues, several times an hour, to stimulate and massage the sow's udder. In the existing system, these individuals are held more often on floors that are anything but inviting to sleep on. Therefore much damage to both skin and legs of the pigs are seen. This is unnecessary suffering, when a straw bed, at least 5 cm thick, can eliminate the lameness and skin ulcers with arthritis as a result. Straw is substrate that can be manipulated and it gives the pig a possibility to root, chew, roll in, lie on, bury themselves in it or to the sow before farrowing, to serve as nesting material. Sows that have no nest material the days before farrowing show clear signs of stress such as bar-biting, sham-chewing, head-weaving, and apathetic behaviour. Weaning piglets without straw or other substrate start to manipulate each other instead. The harmful behaviours that are considered include, belly nosing and tail biting. Straw on the floor, natural ventilation in the stable and mixed sexes in group housing reduces the risk of tail biting. The Swedish Animal Welfare Regulation § 3 says "(...) the feed and water must be of good quality and suited to the species that are fed". Wild pigs' diet consists of a variety of foods including fungi, worms, roots, grass, eggs, small mammals and herbs. We give fattening pigs, pellets or wet food served so the eating takes no energy from the animal. Drinking is made by manipulating water automates. The way we keep pigs today is unsustainable. The current situation gives rise to high frequency injuries, diseases and high mortality and they are all errors embedded in the intensive farming system we do. More research is needed on the amounts of straw or equivalent environmental enrichment materials that are appropriate to the collateral protection and animal welfare. What are the preferences of fattening pigs themselves on modern rooting and bedding materials remains for the researchers to find out.