Interactive Rooting Towers and Behavioural Observations as Strategies to Reduce Tail Biting on Conventional Pig Fattening Farms
| Autor: | Isabel Hennig-Pauka, Milos Stanojlovic, Alexandra von Altrock, Franziska Richter, Johannes Baumgartner, Tobias Scholz, Martin Beyerbach, Anne Kalies |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Tail-biting
General Veterinary InformationSystems_INFORMATIONINTERFACESANDPRESENTATION(e.g. HCI) Veterinary medicine Early detection swine Biology Article welfare ComputingMethodologies_PATTERNRECOGNITION Biting Animal science QL1-991 biter ComputerApplications_GENERAL SF600-1100 environmental enrichment Animal Science and Zoology tail manipulation Zoology ComputingMethodologies_COMPUTERGRAPHICS |
| Zdroj: | Animals, Vol 11, Iss 3025, p 3025 (2021) Animals : an Open Access Journal from MDPI Animals Volume 11 Issue 11 |
| ISSN: | 2076-2615 |
| Popis: | Eight pens (25 pigs/pen n = 200) provided with an interactive straw-filled rooting tower (experimental group) and five pens (25 pigs/pen n = 125) with a stationary (fixed) tower without straw (control group) were compared within three fattening periods on a conventional farm with fully slatted flooring. The effectiveness of the tower to trigger favourable behaviour in feeding and outside feeding periods was assessed. The incidence of deep tail injuries was lower in the experimental group (experimental group: Odds Ratio 0.3, p < 0.001) and was influenced by the batch (Odds Ratio: 2.38, p < 0.001) but not by pen and sex. In spring, most pens were excluded due to severe tail biting. Tail injury scores were more severe in the control group in weeks 5, 6 and 7 compared to the experimental group (p = 0.002, p < 0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). Tower manipulation was more frequent during feeding compared to outside feeding time (p = 0.002). More head than tail manipulation occurred in the experimental group (p = 0.03). The interactive tower as the only measure was not appropriate to reduce tail biting sufficiently in pigs with intact tails on a conventional fattening farm. Of high priority to prevent tail biting outbreaks was the early detection of biting pigs. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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