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Animals
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Pigs' Health Driven by Welfare and Behaviour
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Pigs' Health Driven by Welfare and Behaviour

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Pigs".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 August 2024 | Viewed by 8336

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Annalisa Scollo

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Swivet Research, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Interests: pig welfare; farm management; pig health; infectious diseases; epidemiology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Awareness of animal welfare in society has increased significantly in recent decades, in particular in farming animals. The improvement of animal conditions is among the main demands of consumers in the European market, and this is bringing great challenges for all the stakeholders. In the swine industry, interest in ending the cage age, stopping tail docking and managing pain during castration are only some of the hottest topics. However, it is important to highlight the benefits of improved welfare on the general health of the farmed pigs, resulting in holistic well-being with a reduced predisposition to infectious diseases and increased production.

I am pleased to invite you to provide technical and scientific information to help improve knowledge on how welfare can improve health in farmed pigs. There are certainly many points to investigate in this area, and one of the most important and complex is to link different measurements of animal welfare criteria and the state of the animals (including the emotional state) with predisposition to infectious diseases during their life.

I look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Annalisa Scollo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pig
  • welfare
  • holistic approach
  • infectious diseases
  • emotional state

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 3275 KiB  
Article
Sows’ Responses to Piglets in Distress: An Experimental Investigation in a Natural Setting
by Edoardo Collarini, Luca Capponcelli, Andrea Pierdomenico, Ivan Norscia and Giada Cordoni
Animals 2023, 13(14), 2261; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13142261 - 10 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1725
Abstract
Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) possess complex socio-cognitive skills, and sows show high inter-individual variability in maternal behaviour. To evaluate how females—reared under natural conditions—react to the isolation calls of their own piglets or those of other females, we conducted observations and [...] Read more.
Domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) possess complex socio-cognitive skills, and sows show high inter-individual variability in maternal behaviour. To evaluate how females—reared under natural conditions—react to the isolation calls of their own piglets or those of other females, we conducted observations and experimental trials. In January–February 2021, we conducted all-occurrences sampling on affiliation, aggression, and lactation (daily, 7:30–16:30 h) on six lactating and four non-lactating females at the ethical farm Parva Domus (Turin, Italy). The trials (30 s each, n = 37/sow) consisted of briefly catching and restraining a piglet. We recorded the sow response (none/reactive/proactive movement towards the piglet; self-directed anxiety behaviours such as body shaking) before and during the trial and under control conditions. Increased levels of anxiety behaviour in sows were accompanied by an increased frequency of responses. Less aggressive sows and lactating sows showed the highest frequencies of response. Finally, the isolation calls’ maximum intensity had an influence on the type of response observed, with higher proactive response frequencies following lower intensity isolation calls. Our results suggest that being under lactation could play a key role in increasing sow response levels and that specific acoustic features may influence the response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pigs' Health Driven by Welfare and Behaviour)
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11 pages, 1067 KiB  
Article
Lameness in Pregnant Sows Alters Placental Stress Response
by Marisol Parada Sarmiento, Lydia Lanzoni, Leandro Sabei, Matteo Chincarini, Rupert Palme, Adroaldo José Zanella and Giorgio Vignola
Animals 2023, 13(11), 1722; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13111722 - 23 May 2023
Viewed by 2366
Abstract
Pregnant sows from commercial pig farms may experience painful states, such as lameness, an essential indicator in assessing sow welfare. We investigated the effect of lameness during the last third of pregnancy on reproductive performance and placental glucocorticoid concentrations in sows. Periodic locomotion [...] Read more.
Pregnant sows from commercial pig farms may experience painful states, such as lameness, an essential indicator in assessing sow welfare. We investigated the effect of lameness during the last third of pregnancy on reproductive performance and placental glucocorticoid concentrations in sows. Periodic locomotion assessments were carried out on two commercial pig farms using a validated 0–5 scoring system (from 0: normal locomotion; to 5: a downer animal). Sows from both farms (N = 511) were grouped based on their average locomotion scores. On Farm 1, 30 sows were selected and grouped as either Not Lame (NL = 16; X¯ = 0–1) or Lame (L = 14; X¯ > 1). On Farm 2, 39 sows were selected and grouped as either Not Lame (G1 = 12; X¯ = 0–1), Moderately Lame (G2 = 13; X¯ = 1.1–2), or Severely Lame (G3 = 14; X¯ ≥ 2.1). Reproductive data (gestation length, litter weight, average piglet weight, litter size, and the number of piglets born alive/mummified/stillborn) were recorded on both farms. Moreover, on Farm 2, piglet intrauterine growth restriction score and the number of piglets dead during the first week were also recorded, and placenta samples were collected to determine their cortisol/cortisone concentrations. A linear mixed model was used to analyze the data. The proportion of lameness in pregnant sows (N = 511) was >40%, and the gestation length tended to decrease with the presence of lameness (p < 0.1) in both farms. G2 sows had a higher placental cortisol/cortisone ratio than G1 and G3 sows (p < 0.01). In conclusion, lameness was high in the sows assessed, which may decrease sow gestation length and reduce placental efficiency in protecting the offspring from the sows’ stress response. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pigs' Health Driven by Welfare and Behaviour)
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12 pages, 278 KiB  
Article
Undocked Tails, Mycoplasma-like Lesions and Gastric Ulcers in Slaughtering Pigs: What Connection?
by Annalisa Scollo, Mustansar Abbas, Barbara Contiero and Flaviana Gottardo
Animals 2023, 13(2), 305; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13020305 - 15 Jan 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1686
Abstract
Tail biting is an economical and behavioral problem in the pork production system worldwide and systematic tail docking has been applied for decades to decrease the risk of its onset. However, legal and market-driven requirements are leading pig producers to rear undocked animals. [...] Read more.
Tail biting is an economical and behavioral problem in the pork production system worldwide and systematic tail docking has been applied for decades to decrease the risk of its onset. However, legal and market-driven requirements are leading pig producers to rear undocked animals. The aim of this work was to monitor tail, pluck (lungs, pleurae, and liver), stomach, carcass, and thigh lesions in slaughtering pigs belonging to either docked or undocked batches. A total of 525 batches were evaluated at slaughter: 442 docked and 83 undocked batches. The presence of tail lesions was only recorded in undocked batches (44.0 ± 0.402 vs. 0.2 ± 0.2% compared to docked ones, p < 0.001), with a prevalence of severe chronic lesions of 27.3% ± 0.032, suggesting that more and alternative wide efforts to manage long-tailed animals are needed. On the contrary, docked animals showed more frequent ear lesions (9.6% ± 0.037 vs. 4.6% ± 0.019; p = 0.0001). Severe lung lesions were found more frequently in undocked animals (9.2% ± 0.043 vs. 6.6% ± 0.011, p = 0.006), as well as gastric ulcers (26.1% ± 0.021 vs. 20.3% ± 0.37, p = 0.006). These lesions might share the same predisposing factors of tail lesions; the latter might be investigated as an iceberg indicator for other pathological conditions in undocked pigs and eventual causal association among lesions in these organs should be explored. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pigs' Health Driven by Welfare and Behaviour)

Review

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24 pages, 1102 KiB  
Review
Selected Nutrition and Management Strategies in Suckling Pigs to Improve Post-Weaning Outcomes
by Elisa A. Arnaud, Gillian E. Gardiner and Peadar G. Lawlor
Animals 2023, 13(12), 1998; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani13121998 - 15 Jun 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1968
Abstract
Weaning is a critical period in a pig’s life. Piglets are confronted with abrupt changes to their physical and social environment, as well as management and nutritional changes. Weaning has always been associated with a growth check and is frequently accompanied by post-weaning [...] Read more.
Weaning is a critical period in a pig’s life. Piglets are confronted with abrupt changes to their physical and social environment, as well as management and nutritional changes. Weaning has always been associated with a growth check and is frequently accompanied by post-weaning diarrhoea in piglets. However, rapid increases in litter size in the last decade have increased within-litter piglet weight variation, with piglets now generally lighter at weaning, making the challenges associated with weaning even greater. Many interventions can be employed during the suckling period to ease the weaning transition for piglets. Pre-weaning strategies such as supervised farrowing (assistance with suckling and oxytocin provision), the provision of pain relief to sows around farrowing, split-suckling, early oral supplementation with glucose, bovine colostrum, faecal microbiota transplantation, feed additives and solid and liquid creep feeding (milk and liquid feed) have all been investigated. The objective of these strategies is to stimulate earlier maturation of the digestive tract, improve immunity, reduce latency to the first feed post-weaning and increase early post-weaning feed intake and growth. This review focuses in particular on: (1) pain relief provision to sows around farrowing, (2)split-suckling of piglets, (3) pre-weaning provision of supplementary milk and/or liquid feed, (4) other strategies to stimulate earlier enzyme production (e.g., enzyme supplementation), (5) other nutritional strategies to promote improved gut structure and function (e.g., L-glutamine supplementation), and (6) other strategies to modulate gut microbiota (e.g., probiotics and prebiotics). Correctly implementing these strategies can, not only increase post-weaning growth and reduce mortality, but also maximise lifetime growth in pigs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Pigs' Health Driven by Welfare and Behaviour)
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