In recent years reports from a number of countries, including Sweden, describe problems with diarrhoea in newborn piglets despite the use of previously effective preventive measures. This seemingly altered disease pattern of neonatal porcine diarrhoea...
Tail biting is a common problem in intensive pig farming, affecting both welfare and production. Although routine tail docking is banned within the EU, it remains a common practice to prevent tail biting. Straw as...
Scientists as well as farmers are increasingly interested in the mental capacities of pigs. Recent research has revealed surprising cognitive abilities, such as episodic memory, intentional deception and even theory of mind. Still, our knowledge...
The aim of this study was to investigate effects of confinement in Sow Welfare and Piglet protection pens (SWAP pen) for four days after farrowing on sow behaviour and salivary cortisol levels. Sows were randomly...
Two experimental trials were carried out in order to test the effectiveness of different environmental enrichments in improving the welfare of weaned pigs. A total of 120 undocked piglets was used. In trial one, group...
Increased public concern about farm animal welfare is driving both legislative initiatives and market forces to change how sows are housed and managed. This study investigated the use and preference for enrichment items at a...
Synthetic olfactory agonists mimic odours secreted by mammary glands in several mammal species and their application can reduce anxiety levels in both juvenile and adult animals. This investigation determined the effect of a commercially available...
Measures of animal emotions are essential to assess animal welfare. Recently, the cognitive bias technique has been proposed as a measure of animal affective state. This technique is based on the premise that subjects in...
In boars, social relationships could influence pubertal development and feeding behaviour. The objectives of the present study were to determine the relationships between behaviour (agonistic, mounting and feeding behaviours), plasma sex steroids (oestradiol, testosterone) and...
Chronic stress response in fearful animals can result in depression of growth and reproductive performance. It is therefore important to be aware of at risk animals in the herd. Thus far ‘hierarchy’ calculations have involved...