Finding balance: What is good for the animals is good for production
Jen-Yun Chou – This is Part 1 of the ‘Barn Insights Series’, which focuses on practical solutions to group sow housing. In this first part, Jen-Yun describes her visit to Marcel Egli’s sow barn in Ontario. They use a system...
The effect of standard and large pellet creep feed on the performance and blood parameters of weanling pigs
Jen-Yun Chou, Kylie Kallal, Abigail Tillotson – It is recommended that diets designed for young pigs should include less carbohydrates and lysine and more fibre to minimise insulin spikes. High fibre ingredients typically contain higher iron levels compared to more...
Promoting play behaviour in grow-finish pigs
KarolÃna Steinerová, Yolande Seddon – Play behaviour has been associated with excitement and fun, suggesting that playing animals experience pleasurable states. To determine if the provision of play opportunities could enhance the quality of life of pigs, this study investigated...
Improving the quality of life of pigs
Miranda Smit, Ken Engele, Jen-Yun Chou – The term environmental enrichment describes the changes (modifications or additions to the environment) designed to improve the living conditions of the pigs by allowing them to express a wider range of natural behaviours....
Effective enrichment promotes performance
Abby Tillotson – It is well known that environmental enrichment provides several benefits to intensively raised pigs, such as reducing tail biting, increasing play, and improving disease resiliency. Despite the importance of providing enrichment during the early stage of life,...
The influence of straw enrichment on hair hormone concentrations, behaviour, and productivity of growing pigs
A trial was conducted to see if hair hormone concentrations are a good biomarker for chronic stress in pigs. The objective of this study was to determine if different rearing environments, designed to be standard, or improve pig welfare, influenced...
Rearing pigs with play opportunities: The effects on disease resilience in pigs experimentally inoculated with PRRSV
Positive emotions can reduce disease susceptibility during infectious challenges in humans, and emerging evidence suggests similar effects in farm animals. Because play behaviour may support a positive emotional state in pigs, this study investigated whether rearing pigs with regular intermittent...
Promoting play behaviour in grow-finish pigs
Play behaviour has been associated with excitement and fun, suggesting that playing animals experience pleasurable states. To determine if the provision of play opportunities could enhance the quality of life of pigs, this study investigated if play can be promoted...
Sow housing during the post-weaning and early pregnancy periods
Research to date is limited on how best to house and manage sows during the post-weaning and early gestation periods from a welfare perspective. A systematic literature review (part 1) on this topic found only a small number of studies...
Effects of replenishment rate of enrichments in pigs with undocked tails
This study compared pre-weaning exposure to environmental enrichment or not, and three slat-compatible enrichment replenishment strategies for pigs post-weaning. Forty-eight mixed-sex pens (six males and six females/pen) of undocked pigs were followed from birth to slaughter. Pre-weaning, half the pigs...
Long term effect of early vs. late enrichment with scented newspaper in growing pigs
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...
Quality of Life Handbook – The use of environmental enrichment
The aim of this handbook is to provide suggestions on how to improve the quality of life of pigs in commercial farms in such a way that it won’t require large renovations to the barns. This includes things such as...
