1Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences,Animal Welfare Science Centre,University of Melbourne,Parkville,VIC3010,Australia.
2Livestock Behavior Research Unit,USDA-ARS,270 S. Russell Street,West Lafayette,IN47907,USA.
Animal. 2019 Aug;13(8):1696-1703. doi: 10.1017/S1751731118003300. Epub 2019 Jan 3.
Loose farrowing pens have been considered as alternatives to crates to enhance sow welfare. A major concern with pen systems is often higher piglet pre-weaning mortality, especially due to crushing by the sow. An optimal management of light and mat surface temperature may promote greater piglet use of the creep, which has been associated with reduced piglet crushing. A total of 108 sows and their piglets were studied in sow welfare and piglet protection pens on a commercial piggery, across two replicates. Sows were randomly assigned to pens arranged within two creep treatments (bright creep: 300 lx v. dark creep: 4 lx), considering mat temperature as a covariate. Twelve sows and their litters in each treatment (24 in total) had their behaviour continuously recorded for 72-h postpartum (pp), and four focal piglets per litter were weighed on the first and third days pp. In situ behaviour observations were performed daily (from 0800 to 1700 h) on all sows and their litters, every 15 min over 72-h pp to record piglet time spent in the creep, latency to enter the creep for the first time, latency for the litter to remain in the creep for at least 10 min, and piglet and sow use of pen areas immediately in front of (A2) and farthest from the creep (A3). Piglets with access to bright creeps spent on average 7.2% more time (P<0.01) in the creeps than piglets in pens with Dark creeps. In addition, for each degree increase in mat temperature, piglets spent on average 2.1% more time (P<0.01) in the creep. Piglets in pens with bright creeps spent less time in A2 (P=0.04) and the least time in A3 (P=0.01). Light or mat temperature did not affect sow use of pen areas or piglet weight gain. Piglets with bright creeps tended (P=0.06) to take longer to enter the creep for the first time after birth, but the latency for 30.0% of the litter to remain clustered for 10 min tended (P=0.08) to be shorter in bright compared to dark creeps. Overall, piglet use of the creep increased with warm mat temperatures and brightness, which should be further investigated as potential strategies to promote piglet safety and reduce crushing in pen farrowing systems.
散栏分娩栏被认为是提高母猪福利的替代产床。栏系统的一个主要问题通常是仔猪断奶前死亡率较高，特别是由于母猪挤压造成的。优化光照和垫料表面温度的管理可以促进仔猪更多地使用垫料，这与减少仔猪挤压有关。在一个商业养猪场的母猪福利和仔猪保护栏中，对总共 108 头母猪及其仔猪进行了研究，共进行了两个重复试验。母猪随机分配到两个不同的垫料处理栏内（明亮垫料：300 lx 对比黑暗垫料：4 lx），并考虑垫料温度作为协变量。每个处理（共 24 个）中有 12 头母猪及其仔猪在产后 72 小时内（pp）进行连续行为记录，每窝 4 头仔猪在产后第 1 天和第 3 天进行称重。对所有母猪及其仔猪进行每日（0800 至 1700 h）的现场行为观察，在产后 72 小时内每 15 分钟记录一次仔猪在垫料中的时间、首次进入垫料的潜伏期、窝的潜伏期至少 10 分钟、仔猪和母猪立即进入（A2）和离垫料最远（A3）的栏面积的使用情况。有明亮垫料的仔猪在垫料中的停留时间平均增加了 7.2%（P<0.01），而在黑暗垫料的仔猪停留时间平均增加了 2.1%（P<0.01）。有明亮垫料的仔猪在 A2 区域（P=0.04）的停留时间较少，在 A3 区域（P=0.01）的停留时间最少。光照或垫料温度对母猪栏面积的使用或仔猪体重增加没有影响。有明亮垫料的仔猪首次进入垫料的潜伏期较长（P=0.06），但 30.0%的窝的仔猪进入垫料潜伏期较短（P=0.08）。总体而言，随着垫料温度和亮度的升高，仔猪对垫料的使用增加，这应该作为促进仔猪安全和减少产床分娩系统中仔猪挤压的潜在策略进一步研究。
