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, it may be equally crucial to provide enrichment for pigs throughout the growing and finishing stages, too. This research project aimed to quantify the effects of providing enrichment during early (0-8 weeks) and/or late (9-21 weeks) life, and also aimed to evaluate the use of loosely crumpled newsprint with added Phytozen as a periodic enrichment for growing pigs of all ages. This work is important to better support producers in their efforts to improve their pig’s physical environment without compromising the security of normal barn operations.

The results of this study showed that while providing enrichment during early life is crucial to normal pig development, it is equally important to maintain this throughout life. Furthermore, pigs who only received enrichment during late life had greater body and tail lesions compared to pigs who had enrichment throughout life, demonstrating the tangible evidence to show that the early life environment cannot be neglected – it is vital to provide outlets for species specific behaviours in all rearing environments throughout life.