Determining Effective Enrichments For Group Housed Sows

Feb 18, 2019

Providing enrichment involves making changes to the environment that are intended to increase the range of normal Behaviours and improve the biological functioning and well-being of animals. Enrichment in group housing systems has the potential to significantly improve animal welfare by reducing aggression and injuries, stimulating exercise and the expression of species specific behaviours. However, when one enrichment is used continuously, habituation results and the enrichment can become less effective.

Initial behavioural results indicate that regardless of the enrichment treatment provided, sows spent similar amounts of time in enriched areas of the pen. Sows spent more time contacting and near the enrichment when
materials were rotated than constant. Sows in the ROTATE treatment spent the most time within 1 metre of the enrichments on day 10 when straw was provided.

Determining Effective Enrichments for Group Housed Sows (View pdf)

Source : Prairie Swine Centre

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.