Norring Marianna, Ko Heng-Lun, Valros Anna
Research Centre for Animal Welfare, Department of Production Animal Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Department of Animal and Food Science, School of Veterinary Science, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain.
Front Vet Sci. 2023 Jan 12;9:1070206. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.1070206. eCollection 2022.
Flank lesions in pigs are a common yet poorly understood consequence of damaging social behavior. One group of pigs on a commercial farm with group lactation and late weaning, and with the history of flank lesions was studied. Skin lesions on the flanks, including linear and circular lesions, and tail lesions on 69 pigs were recorded six times during 5 weeks after weaning at the age of 9 weeks. Nosing behavior was scanned during six sessions with multiple scans. The associations of age, trunk whiteness, weight gain, sow parity, litter size, sex, and tail lesions with the number of circular and linear lesions were analyzed using linear mixed models. The number of linear lesions increased as pigs aged, and pigs with a higher weight gain had more linear lesions. Moreover, pigs with a whiter trunk color were scored with more lesions of both types. According to descriptive behavior data, nosing and biting behaviors were most frequent during weeks 2-4 after weaning at the age of 11-13 weeks. On average, seven circular flank lesions were found per pig during the experiment, at the age of 10-14 weeks. After the peak on day 17, their occurrence decreased. Skin lesion occurrence was related to a lighter skin color on the trunks of pigs. We recommend reporting skin color in connection with lesion scoring results. Nosing behavior and flank lesions both peaked from 2 to 4 weeks after weaning, suggesting that nosing behavior contributed to lesion development during this time.
猪的侧腹损伤是有害社会行为常见但却了解甚少的后果。对一个采用群体哺乳和晚期断奶的商业农场中一组有侧腹损伤病史的猪进行了研究。在9周龄断奶后的5周内，对69头猪的侧腹皮肤损伤（包括线状和圆形损伤）以及尾部损伤进行了6次记录。在6个时段进行多次扫描，对拱鼻行为进行了扫描。使用线性混合模型分析了年龄、躯干白色程度、体重增加、母猪胎次、窝仔数、性别和尾部损伤与圆形和线状损伤数量之间的关联。线状损伤的数量随着猪龄的增长而增加，体重增加较多的猪有更多的线状损伤。此外，躯干颜色较白的猪两种类型的损伤得分都更高。根据描述性的行为数据，在11 - 13周龄断奶后的第2 - 4周，拱鼻和咬的行为最为频繁。在实验期间，即10 - 14周龄时，每头猪平均发现7处圆形侧腹损伤。在第17天达到峰值后，其发生率下降。皮肤损伤的发生与猪躯干较浅的肤色有关。我们建议在报告损伤评分结果时提及皮肤颜色。拱鼻行为和侧腹损伤在断奶后2至4周均达到峰值，这表明在此期间拱鼻行为促成了损伤的发展。
