Faculty of Animal Science, Vietnam National University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam.
Data Science Department, Oxford University Clinical Research Unit, Hanoi, Vietnam.
J Appl Anim Welf Sci. 2024 Jul-Sep;27(3):427-441. doi: 10.1080/10888705.2022.2070846. Epub 2022 Apr 29.
Intensification and complexity of pig production systems may require different strategies for animal welfare improvement. We aimed to identify welfare issues of gestation sows and areas for improvement by comparing four production systems, including the smallholder pen-based system (SPS: 26 farms), smallholder stall-based system (SSS:14 farms), semi-intensive stall-based system (SES: 15 farms), and intensive stall-based system (ISS: 10 farms). Ten significant animal-based measures in the Welfare Quality® protocol were used for welfare assessment at the individual level. Stall-housed sows in SES and ISS faced more welfare problems where sows presented a higher prevalence of poor body condition (0.001), wounds on body (0.003), fear of humans (0.001), and stereotypies (0.001) than pen-housed sows in the SPS. Sows in the SPS presented the highest prevalence of panting (0.001). Welfare improvement should be focused on minimizing the adverse effects of hot weather on sows in the SPS and SSS and redesigning a more welfare-friendly housing system that prevents sows from the risk of wounds on body and enables them to perform motivated behaviors in the SES and ISS.
集约化和复杂化的养猪生产系统可能需要不同的策略来改善动物福利。我们旨在通过比较四种生产系统（包括 26 个农场的小型养猪户圈养系统、14 个农场的小型养猪户拴系系统、15 个农场的半集约化拴系系统和 10 个农场的集约化拴系系统），来确定妊娠母猪的福利问题和改进领域。使用 Welfare Quality®协议中的十个重要基于动物的措施，在个体水平上进行福利评估。 SES 和 ISS 中圈养的母猪面临更多的福利问题，这些母猪的身体状况较差（0.001）、身体上有伤口（0.003）、对人类恐惧（0.001）和刻板行为（0.001）的发生率高于 SPS 中的母猪。SPS 中的母猪喘气的发生率最高（0.001）。福利改善应侧重于最大限度地减少 SPS 和 SSS 中母猪对炎热天气的不利影响，并重新设计一种更有利于福利的饲养系统，防止母猪身体受伤，并使它们能够在 SES 和 ISS 中表现出受激励的行为。
