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On-Farm Welfare Assessment Protocol for Suckling Piglets: A Pilot Study.
Marika Vitali1, Elena Santacroce1, Federico Correa1
1Department of Agricultural and Agri-food Sciences and Technologies, University of Bologna. Viale Fanin 46, 40138 Bologna (BO), Italy.
Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI
|June 14, 2020
Summary
This study identified key welfare issues in piglets, such as limb and body lesions, and poor body condition. Environmental factors like light and temperature significantly impacted piglet welfare, highlighting areas for improved farm management.
Area of Science:
- Animal Science
- Veterinary Medicine
- Animal Welfare
Background:
- Piglets commonly face welfare challenges during the nursery phase.
- Assessing piglet welfare requires robust indicators linked to management conditions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To pilot a protocol for identifying main welfare issues in suckling piglets.
- To investigate relationships between animal-based welfare indicators and housing conditions.
Main Methods:
- Assessed 134 litters across two farms using 13 animal-based indicators.
- Recorded housing conditions and piglet observations at 7 and 20 days of age.
- Employed generalized linear mixed models to analyze indicator relationships with farm, age, tail docking, and housing conditions.
Main Results:
- Prevalent welfare issues included limb (32.6%) and front body lesions (22.8%), poor body condition score (BCS) (16.1%), ear lesions (15.5%), and tail lesions (9.7%).
- Tail biting was observed in 8.7% of piglets and increased with scarce light.
- Tail lesions, low BCS, tear staining, and diarrhea were linked to light and nest temperature; tail docking increased tear staining.
Conclusions:
- The developed protocol shows promise for on-farm piglet welfare assessment.
- Environmental factors like light and temperature are critical for piglet welfare, influencing lesions, BCS, and behavior.
- Tail docking may induce negative emotional states, evidenced by increased tear staining.
