Mixing of sows with or without the presence of a boar
2009
Borberg, Catrin | Hoy, St (Steffen)
A total number of 26 groups of 8 sows each were mixed after weaning the piglets in a special stimulation pen, including 13 groups with and 13 groups without boar presence. Behavioural measurements were taken for 48 h after mixing and all agonistic interactions (AI) were recorded into a winner-loser-matrix. Additionally, the duration of the AI and the start situation (aggressor-receiver) were determined. Also the skin lesions of each sow 24 h before and after mixing were scored. A total of 90% of the AI were initiated by the dominant sow in the concerned dyad. In more than 50% of all cases low ranking sows were attacked by higher ranking sows. Low ranking sows had a significantly higher skin lesion score than high ranking sows (9.6 vs 6.9). 12.8% of the AI were fights. Fights (mean duration: 30 s) took ten times longer than attacks. Boar presence did not affect the total number of AI per sow but decreased the number of fights to almost half (3.6 vs 6.4). Duration of fighting was shortened by boar presence (14.9 vs 39.6 s). The skin lesion score and the sociometric parameters were unaffected by treatment. Frequency of AI per group was affected by the microclimate and the number of acquainted dyads (pairs). The number of AI was reduced by a higher enthalpy and a higher number of acquainted sows, respectively.
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