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Development of a novel housing system for pig families
90
by different parts of the brain. Sensory feedback from receptors in the mouth is via the trigeminal, facial and glossopharyngeal nerves. These receptors respond to taste (chemoreceptors), touch (mechanoreceptors), temperature (thermoreceptors) and pain (nociceptors) by sending electrical impulses to the brain. The alimentary tract is innervated intrinsically, by the enteric nervous system, and extrinsically, by the central nervous system (CNS) via the vagus, pelvic and intestinal nerves. Feedback to the CNS from mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors distributed throughout the digestive system (including the liver) plays an important part in regulation of intake. Two classes of stretch receptors (mechanoreceptors) occur in the wall of the crop, one slowly-adapting and the other rapidly-adapting, Possible candidates for a humoral control system are the gut hormones; more than a dozen distinct peptides released in the alimentary tract in response to food. Several also occur in the CNS where they may act as neurotransmitters. One, cholecystokinin (CCK), has been proposed as a satiety signal, and causes short-term, dose-related, suppression of food intake when injected intravenously and intracranially in fowls. There is evidence that apparent satiating properties of CCK, when injected intravenously, may be accounted for by its effect on gastrointestinal motility.
DEVELOPMENT
OF A NOVEL HOUSING
SYSTEM FOR PIG FAMILIES
A. STOLBA School
of Agriculture,
University
of Edinburgh,
Edinburgh
(Gt. Britain)
ABSTRACT
In order to explore minimum ethological requirements for pig housing, domestic juvenile pigs of the Large White breed were observed in a semi-natural enclosure, in increasingly restricted outdoor paddocks and in conventional pens. The social environment varied between mixed fattening groups and stable family groups, containing several age and sex classes. The method and its objectives are reported elsewhere (Stolba and Wood-Gush, 1981), and led to the design of a housing system for pig families in environmentally enriched pens. Each is composed of nesting, activity and rooting areas and includes a corridor connecting neighbouring pens. Various furniture structures the areas, such as partition walls, head feeding stalls, farrowing rails, a rubbing post, a straw rack and a levering bar. The main substrate is straw, but a different material is provided in the rooting area. Four such pens have been converted from ordinary open-front-pens and are now permanently stocked with a group of 4 sows together with their offspring. Preliminary results on behaviour, growth, reproduction, feeding levels and management procedures are now available from the first year of running the
91
family system. The frequencies and orientation of behaviour classes and the reaction to unfamiliar stimuli showed a close similarity to the semi-natural conditions, as opposed to conventional environments. The growing pigs took 145 days (first batch) to 170 days (third batch) to reach bacon weight, by which time their mothers had already far-rowed their next litters. Mating took place during lactation, a boar having been introduced to the group 20 days after far-rowing. 2.3 litters/year have so far been achieved, with the prospect of shortening the farrowing cycle even more. The sows needed to be fed on a high level of nutrition before mating; for the growing pigs, food input and conversion seemed to be similar to conventional systems. The study shows what basic ethological research in domestic animals can contribute to the applied design of housing conditions appropriate to a species’ behaviour.
REFERENCE Stolba, A. and Wood-Gush, D.G.M., 1981. Verhaltensgliederung und Reaktion auf Neureize als ethologische Kriterien zur Beurteilung von Haltungsbedingungen. In: Angwandte Ethologie bei Haustieren, KTBL Darmstadt.
THE EFFECT PIGS
OF RANK ON SOCIAL FACILITATION
OF FEEDING
IN
L.C. HSIA and D.G.M. WOOD-GUSH School of Agriculture,
University of Edinburgh,
Edinburgh
(Gt. Britain)
ABSTRACT
Four well-established groups consisting of 3 pigs with stable hierarchies were used. The hierarchies had previously been determined through competition for food. Two groups were used in Trial 1, the other 2 in Trial 2 and 3 of these groups in Trial 3. In Trial 1, the pigs were deprived of food for 12 h, 2 of the pigs were removed from the group and the remaining pig allowed to feed in the pen until it had not fed for 10 min, at which point it was judged to be satiated (S). One of the hungry pigs (H) was then brought back to the pen and the time spent feeding by the satiated pig was measured during the first 10 min after the introduction of the hungry pig. Each group of pigs was tested in a 6 X 6 latin square design formed by the following treatments: A (lS, 2H); B (lS, 3H); C (2S, 1H); D (2S, 3H); E (3S, 1H); F (3S, 2H); where the figures denote the ranks of the animals. The average times spent feeding by the satiated pigs were 143, 119, 2, 34, 4 and 1 s for each treatment, respectively. In Trial 2, the same design was used but the effect of competition was
by different parts of the brain. Sensory feedback from receptors in the mouth is via the trigeminal, facial and glossopharyngeal nerves. These receptors respond to taste (chemoreceptors), touch (mechanoreceptors), temperature (thermoreceptors) and pain (nociceptors) by sending electrical impulses to the brain. The alimentary tract is innervated intrinsically, by the enteric nervous system, and extrinsically, by the central nervous system (CNS) via the vagus, pelvic and intestinal nerves. Feedback to the CNS from mechanoreceptors and chemoreceptors distributed throughout the digestive system (including the liver) plays an important part in regulation of intake. Two classes of stretch receptors (mechanoreceptors) occur in the wall of the crop, one slowly-adapting and the other rapidly-adapting, Possible candidates for a humoral control system are the gut hormones; more than a dozen distinct peptides released in the alimentary tract in response to food. Several also occur in the CNS where they may act as neurotransmitters. One, cholecystokinin (CCK), has been proposed as a satiety signal, and causes short-term, dose-related, suppression of food intake when injected intravenously and intracranially in fowls. There is evidence that apparent satiating properties of CCK, when injected intravenously, may be accounted for by its effect on gastrointestinal motility.
DEVELOPMENT
OF A NOVEL HOUSING
SYSTEM FOR PIG FAMILIES
A. STOLBA School
of Agriculture,
University
of Edinburgh,
Edinburgh
(Gt. Britain)
ABSTRACT
In order to explore minimum ethological requirements for pig housing, domestic juvenile pigs of the Large White breed were observed in a semi-natural enclosure, in increasingly restricted outdoor paddocks and in conventional pens. The social environment varied between mixed fattening groups and stable family groups, containing several age and sex classes. The method and its objectives are reported elsewhere (Stolba and Wood-Gush, 1981), and led to the design of a housing system for pig families in environmentally enriched pens. Each is composed of nesting, activity and rooting areas and includes a corridor connecting neighbouring pens. Various furniture structures the areas, such as partition walls, head feeding stalls, farrowing rails, a rubbing post, a straw rack and a levering bar. The main substrate is straw, but a different material is provided in the rooting area. Four such pens have been converted from ordinary open-front-pens and are now permanently stocked with a group of 4 sows together with their offspring. Preliminary results on behaviour, growth, reproduction, feeding levels and management procedures are now available from the first year of running the
91
family system. The frequencies and orientation of behaviour classes and the reaction to unfamiliar stimuli showed a close similarity to the semi-natural conditions, as opposed to conventional environments. The growing pigs took 145 days (first batch) to 170 days (third batch) to reach bacon weight, by which time their mothers had already far-rowed their next litters. Mating took place during lactation, a boar having been introduced to the group 20 days after far-rowing. 2.3 litters/year have so far been achieved, with the prospect of shortening the farrowing cycle even more. The sows needed to be fed on a high level of nutrition before mating; for the growing pigs, food input and conversion seemed to be similar to conventional systems. The study shows what basic ethological research in domestic animals can contribute to the applied design of housing conditions appropriate to a species’ behaviour.
REFERENCE Stolba, A. and Wood-Gush, D.G.M., 1981. Verhaltensgliederung und Reaktion auf Neureize als ethologische Kriterien zur Beurteilung von Haltungsbedingungen. In: Angwandte Ethologie bei Haustieren, KTBL Darmstadt.
THE EFFECT PIGS
OF RANK ON SOCIAL FACILITATION
OF FEEDING
IN
L.C. HSIA and D.G.M. WOOD-GUSH School of Agriculture,
University of Edinburgh,
Edinburgh
(Gt. Britain)
ABSTRACT
Four well-established groups consisting of 3 pigs with stable hierarchies were used. The hierarchies had previously been determined through competition for food. Two groups were used in Trial 1, the other 2 in Trial 2 and 3 of these groups in Trial 3. In Trial 1, the pigs were deprived of food for 12 h, 2 of the pigs were removed from the group and the remaining pig allowed to feed in the pen until it had not fed for 10 min, at which point it was judged to be satiated (S). One of the hungry pigs (H) was then brought back to the pen and the time spent feeding by the satiated pig was measured during the first 10 min after the introduction of the hungry pig. Each group of pigs was tested in a 6 X 6 latin square design formed by the following treatments: A (lS, 2H); B (lS, 3H); C (2S, 1H); D (2S, 3H); E (3S, 1H); F (3S, 2H); where the figures denote the ranks of the animals. The average times spent feeding by the satiated pigs were 143, 119, 2, 34, 4 and 1 s for each treatment, respectively. In Trial 2, the same design was used but the effect of competition was