Abstracts - Management

Pig behavior continues to change for up to 9 wk after introduction into a new social group.

The presence of Salmonella in free-range pigs is directly related to the natural vegetation accessible, determining the composition of the intestinal microbiota.

A short-term music stimulus can reduce the stress response, whereas a long-term music stimulus can enhance immune responses in pigs.

Concentrate feeding level of gestating sows on pasture can be reduced without adverse effects on pasture vegetation cover.

Despite dexterity and visual constraints, pigs have the capacity to acquire a joystick-operated video-game task.

Injection of pGLP-2 microspheres can be a therapeutic strategy for compensatory growth in intrauterine growth restricted piglets with low birthweights.

Swine inflammation and necrosis syndrome is influenced by husbandry and quality of sow in suckling piglets, weaners, and fattening pigs.

After playing with toys, pigs seemed to be less fearful and in a more positive emotional state.

Method capable of monitoring feeding behaviour of pigs, without the need for additional sensors or individual marking.

Increasing the weaning age can be an effective strategy to improve the overall performance in a commercial system. Results of this study imply that 25 d is the optimal weaning age.

Piglet performances were not improved nor impaired when split-suckling was applied during the first day of life. However growth was impaired when litters were intensively split-suckled during first three days of life.

Following tailor-made implementation of alternative measures, a substantial reduction of antimicrobial use in pig production was achievable without jeopardizing animal health.

Procaine, lidocaine, bupivacaine, and mepivacaine are highly effective at reducing signs of nociception during castration under light isoflurane anesthesia.

Structure, size and flavour should be considered when choosing enrichment material. Out of the materials tested, maize kernels in straw were the most attractive for pigs.

Adding ramps to nursery pig housing is a simple way to speed loading of market hogs, while providing benefits to efficiency and behavior in the nursery.

Pigs exposed to carbon dioxide made more escape attempts but fewer squeals than pigs exposed to nitrous oxide.

Scoring of tail lesions and defining intact tails in undocked pigs at the abattoir.

A 3D machine vision system has the potential to automate tail posture detection and provide early warning of tail biting on farm.

Sows that had a good relationships with their handler tended to have more total and weaned pigs. Weaning performance was better for farmers who valued good animal-human relationships.

Sorting piglets by birth weight can affect colostrum intake and sorting by birth order affects immunocrit levels. Both birth weight and birth order have effects on traits that are important for prenatal growth and survival.

Early development of gilt progeny may be delayed compared with sow progeny and a number of anatomical differences present at birth are also present at weaning.

Gentle handling of growing pigs could reduce their anxiety and increase intimacy between the pigs and handlers. However, it had little effect on pig performance, carcass quality, and meat quality.

A lower frequency of behavioral aversive responses was observed in the intradermal route of vaccine administration group than in the intramuscular group.

Weaning is a critical phase in a pig’s life. Group housing of non-littermates before weaning may favour socialisation and hence reduce weaning stress.