Poppy T E Statham

A cohort study of preweaning piglet mortality and farrowing accommodation on 112 commercial pig farms in England

A cohort study was carried out on 112 breeding pig farms in England to investigate the impact of type of farrowing accommodation on preweaning mortality in piglets. Four types of farrowing accommodation were studied; farrowing crates, indoor loose pens, crate/loose systems (where the sow was restrained in a crate during birth and the first days of lactation before being moved to a loose pen) and outdoor farrowing in arcs in paddocks. Four estimates of preweaning mortality were collected: an oral estimate from the farmer before the visit, an estimate from the 6-month rolling average from computer records, records from 20 litters observed when the farm was visited and prospective records collected from 20 farrowings after the visit. These four estimates were significantly correlated. The prospective records also included a farmer reported date and cause of death. From the prospective data there were 25,031 piglets from 2143 litters from 112 farms, 6.5% of piglets were stillborn while live born preweaning mortality was 12%. Mixed effect discrete time survival, binomial and competing risk, models were used to investigate the association between preweaning mortality and farrowing accommodation, controlling for sow parity, litter size and number of piglets stillborn and fostered. There was a reduced risk of stillbirths in outdoor farrowing systems compared with crated systems. Farmers reported that crushing of healthy piglets was the most frequent cause of death accounting for 55% of live born preweaning mortality. There was no significant difference in mortality in live born piglets by farrowing system. There was a significantly higher risk of farmer reported crushing of healthy live born piglets in outdoor arcs compared with piglets reared with sows in farrowing crates and a significantly reduced risk of death from causes other than crushing in piglets reared outdoors or in crate/loose systems compared with piglets reared in crated systems. We conclude that, in the farms in this study, farrowing crates reduced the risk of preweaning live born mortality attributable to crushing but piglets in this system were at increased risk of death from other causes. Consequently crates had no significant effect on overall preweaning mortality percentage. In all four commercial production systems; outdoor, farrowing crates, crate/loose farrowing systems and indoor loose housed systems, there were similar levels of mortality.

Factors associated with preweaning mortality on commercial pig farms in England and Wales

Data from 67 pig farms with a variety of farrowing systems were used to identify factors associated with preweaning mortality in British pig herds. The median mortality reported by the farmers was 10·7 per cent (interquartile range 8·5 to 14 per cent). There was a significantly higher mortality when the pigs were weaned when they were older. A multivariable Poisson model was developed into which the types of farrowing system on each farm and the age at weaning were forced. Factors associated with a lower preweaning mortality rate were insulating the farrowing building, providing extra heat at farrowing, giving the piglets iron injections, dipping their navels, using fan ventilation and using artificial lighting systems. Factors associated with a higher mortality rate were a later weaning age, the use of infra-red lamps rather than other forms of supplementary heat, and the use of a creep without any bedding.

Visual fixation of a landing perch by chickens

Chickens were video recorded while making jumps or flights toward a landing perch, to test hypotheses about visual fixation behaviour. In the first experiment, varying the height above the landing perch of the food container providing the incentive to jump had no effect on head orientation, indicating that the birds were not fixating this object. In the second experiment, hens jumped over six combinations of perch height and distance, and a linear relationship was found at take-off between head orientation and the angular distance of the perch from the horizontal at the eye. This relationship is consistent with fixation of the perch by a linear combination of head and eye rotations, with the head component contributing 73% of the total response. The image of the perch is fixated 20º below that of the bill tip, outside any region of the chicken retina specialised for high acuity vision. Fixation of the perch before jumping must therefore have some function other than inspection with high acuity, such as providing a constraint that enables precise visual control of trajectory and landing manoeuvres.

Risks associated with preweaning mortality in 855 litters on 39 commercial outdoor pig farms in England

A prospective longitudinal study was carried out on 39 outdoor breeding pig farms in England in 2003 and 2004 to investigate the risks associated with mortality in liveborn preweaning piglets. Researchers visited each farm and completed a questionnaire with the farmer and made observations of the paddocks, huts and pigs. The farmer recorded the number of piglets born alive and stillborn, fostered on and off and the number of piglets that died before weaning for 20 litters born after the visit. Data were analysed from a cohort of 9424 liveborn piglets from 855 litters. Overall 1274 liveborn piglets (13.5%) died before weaning. A mixed effect binomial model was used to investigate the associations between preweaning mortality and farm and litter level factors, controlling for litter size and number of piglets stillborn and fostered. Increased risk of mortality was associated with fostering piglets over 24h of age, organic certification or membership of an assurance scheme with higher welfare standards, farmers perception that there was a problem with pest birds, use of medication to treat coccidiosis and presence of lame sows on the farm. Reduced mortality was associated with insulated farrowing huts and door flaps, women working on the farm and the farmer reporting a problem with foxes.

Factors affecting the ability of sheep to rest during time in markets in Great Britain

In Great Britain, more than eleven million animals are transported to or from livestock markets annually. Time spent at markets is considered by Defra (Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to be ‘neutral time’, ie potentially a rest period. However, sheep in markets are subject to many potential stressors, which may prevent them resting. Lying and ruminating behaviours were analysed from 1,638 behavioural scans of sheep in 279 pens in 23 markets across Great Britain. Likelihood of observing ≥ 1 animals lying down during a scan decreased as stocking density and activity outside the pen increased. Proportion of animals observed lying in a pen (when at least one animal was lying) increased as group size and stocking rate decreased. Likelihood of observing ≥ 1 animals ruminating increased when there was no activity around the pen, and as number of sheep in the pen increased. Proportion of animals observed ruminating in a pen (when at least one animal was ruminating) increased as stocking rate, number of sheep in the pen and activity outside the pen decreased. Proportion of sheep ruminating was greater where there was no activity, compared with where there was activity outside the pen. We suggest that in order to allow higher quality rest periods for sheep in markets, then markets should be organised so that activity around the pen is minimised, eg by filling the market from back to front so that, once penned, sheep are not passed repeatedly. Stocking densities should also be low enough to allow animals to lie if they wish, while groups sizes should not be so low as to increase fear responses.

Enhancing collaboration in the UK animal welfare research community

THE UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has funded a new Animal Welfare Research Network (AWRN) to bring together animal welfare researchers, those working in related fields and other professionals with an interest in animal welfare, including representatives from industry, charities and government. The core aims of the AWRN are to foster enhanced collaboration within the UK animal welfare research community and other relevant disciplines to: facilitate mentoring and training for early career researchers; seek new ways of supporting welfare researchers at all career stages; encourage interaction between researchers and stakeholders to identify gaps and opportunities for joint-working; and promote the impact of research outcomes. Over £100,000 has been provided by BBSRC to fund the AWRN for three years in the first instance, and it will be managed by a coordinating group of animal welfare researchers led by Professor Michael Mendl from Bristol university. Animal welfare is of high societal importance. In an EU survey, 34 per cent of approximately 29,000 citizens rated the protection of welfare in farmed animals as being of the highest importance. Within the UK this proportion was 38 per cent (EU 2007). Britain has …