By Bruce Cochrane.
A survey conducted by Michigan State University shows pork producers use a variety of techniques to reduce aggression among group housed pigs.
As part of research designed to reduce production losses by using behavior and genomic tools to identify pigs best suited for group living, Michigan State University surveyed pork producers to learn how they use behavior in their on-farm management of pigs.
Dr. Sarah Ison. a post doctoral fellow in the Animal Science Department of Michigan State University, says not surprisingly pig producers know a lot about pig behavior.
Dr. Sarah Ison-Michigan State University:
In analyzing the results I've been focusing first on the pig aggression side of it from nursery to finisher stage pigs, so looking at the techniques used to minimize aggression.
Quite interestingly the most successful technique for minimizing aggression in pigs from the respondents to the survey seems to allowing piglets to intermingle with other litters before weaning and that's in line with what the research is telling us as well so that's reassuring.
We also discovered that producers pretty much avoid mixing unfamiliar pigs as much as possible which is also not surprising since mixing pigs can reduce productivity as well as being bad for the pigs well being.
Also respondents identified what they thought were the most important things affecting the management, production and well being of the pigs in the current industry with the top ones being health and nutrition.
Also a lot of the respondents mentioned good stockmanship was quite an important part of managing pigs, including quality of interactions with the pigs and also good observation skills and record keeping.
Dr. Ison says the survey results along with the scientific research will be summarized in a fact sheet to show how low cost management changes could potentially improve the performance and well being of the pigs.
Source: Farmscape