This project is funded by the NSERC Industrial Research Chair program, a five-year research program focusing on emerging questions in swine welfare. Goal 2 will investigate whether play can be used as a tool to support positive welfare and beneficial production characteristics in pigs reared in the existing systems. The first trial is exploring the promotion of play during its natural period of expression (pre-weaning), and testing pigs to establish whether the
performance of different types of play, such as object play, social play and locomotor play, influences the response of piglets to weaning and the development of social skills when meeting with unfamiliar pigs. A second trial explores whether play can be repeatedly promoted and sustained in older pigs, beyond the age at which play is naturally expressed, and aims to determine if promotion of play confers stress-relieving properties and results in a pleasurable/positive mental state. An upcoming experiment will address how the promotion of a positive mental state through play behaviour affects immunocompetency.
This project opens up a new approach by which the quality of life and performance of intensively farmed pigs could be enhanced by a means that will also resonate with consumers. By exploring the relationship between play behaviour, the pigs’ emotions and productivity, the project aims to deliver a powerful tool with beneficial outcomes for production characteristics such as improved immune response and more effective responses to stress.
Play behaviour and its role to enhance pig welfare and production (full article)
