Environmental enrichment can reduce damaging behaviours like tail biting, but practical information on enrichments for growing pigs is lacking. A previous study showed that scented newsprint was a promising enrichment type. The current study examined the long-term effect of early vs late enrichment with scented newspaper on pig growth and the development of damaging behaviours. A total of 240 piglets received scented newsprint three days per week (Enriched [E]) or no enrichment (Control [C]) from 2-8 weeks of age (Early) and/or from 8 weeks-slaughter (Late) to create 4 distinct treatments: Enriched early and late (EE), Enriched early/Control late (EC), Control early/Enriched late (CE), and Control early and late (CC). The results showed that the effects of EE and CE treatments had the best performance and the lowest incidence of damaging behaviour. These were followed by the CC treatment, with EC pigs showing the poorest performance in growing and finishing. The EE treatment showed the least pen-mate manipulation and other benefits; thus, we conclude that early enrichment was important in influencing behaviour later in life.
Long term effect of early vs. late enrichment with scented newspaper in growing pigs (link to the full article)
