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Early life experiences can affect social behaviour in later life, but opportunities for socio-behavioural development are often overlooked in current husbandry practices. This experiment investigated the effects of rearing piglets in two-stage group lactation (GL) system from 7 or 14 days of age on piglet aggression at weaning. Three lactation housing treatments were applied to a total of 198 piglets from 30 litters of multiparous sows. All dams farrowed in standard farrowing crates (FCs). Group lactation litters were transferred with their dam at 7 (GL7) or 14 days (GL14) postpartum to GL pens (one pen of five sows at 8.4 m2/sow and one pen of seven sows at 8.1 m2/sow, per GL treatment). Farrowing crate litters remained with their dam in a single litter until weaning. At weaning, 10 to 14 piglets from two unfamiliar litters from the same housing treatment were mixed into pens (n =5 pens/treatment) and their behaviour was continuously recorded for 3.5 h. For each pen, the frequency of aggressive bouts (reciprocal and non-reciprocal aggression lasting <5 s), the frequency and duration of fights (reciprocal aggression lasting ⩾5 s) and bullying events (non-reciprocal aggression lasting ⩾5 s) were recorded, along with whether interactions involved familiar or unfamiliar piglets. Aggressive bouts delivered by FC piglets were approximately 1.5 and 3.0 times more frequent than that delivered by GL7 and GL14 piglets, respectively (40.5, 16.7 and 9.9 bouts/pig, respectively; P <0.05). Fighting was more frequent (1.6, 0.3 and 0.4 fights/pig, respectively; P <0.001) and fights were longer (83, 15 and 32 s fight/pig, respectively; P <0.001) between FC piglets than between GL7 or GL14 piglets. Bullying did not differ between housing treatments (P >0.05). GL7 and GL14 piglets engaged in a similar number of fights with unfamiliar as familiar piglets, but FC piglets had almost three times as many fights with unfamiliar than with familiar piglets (P <0.05). This experiment confirms the benefits of GL housing for pig social development. Further investigation is required to determine whether mixing before 14 days postpartum has implications for other indicators of animal welfare and productivity in a two-stage GL housing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loose farrowing pens have been considered as alternatives to crates to enhance sow welfare. A major concern with pen systems is often higher piglet pre-weaning mortality, especially due to crushing by the sow. An optimal management of light and mat surface temperature may promote greater piglet use of the creep, which has been associated with reduced piglet crushing. A total of 108 sows and their piglets were studied in sow welfare and piglet protection pens on a commercial piggery, across two replicates. Sows were randomly assigned to pens arranged within two creep treatments (bright creep: 300 lx v. dark creep: 4 lx), considering mat temperature as a covariate. Twelve sows and their litters in each treatment (24 in total) had their behaviour continuously recorded for 72-h postpartum (pp), and four focal piglets per litter were weighed on the first and third days pp. In situ behaviour observations were performed daily (from 0800 to 1700 h) on all sows and their litters, every 15 min over 72-h pp to record piglet time spent in the creep, latency to enter the creep for the first time, latency for the litter to remain in the creep for at least 10 min, and piglet and sow use of pen areas immediately in front of (A2) and farthest from the creep (A3). Piglets with access to bright creeps spent on average 7.2% more time (P< 0.01) in the creeps than piglets in pens with Dark creeps. In addition, for each degree increase in mat temperature, piglets spent on average 2.1% more time (P <0.01) in the creep. Piglets in pens with bright creeps spent less time in A2 (P =0.04) and the least time in A3 (P =0.01). Light or mat temperature did not affect sow use of pen areas or piglet weight gain. Piglets with bright creeps tended (P =0.06) to take longer to enter the creep for the first time after birth, but the latency for 30.0% of the litter to remain clustered for 10 min tended (P =0.08) to be shorter in bright compared to dark creeps. Overall, piglet use of the creep increased with warm mat temperatures and brightness, which should be further investigated as potential strategies to promote piglet safety and reduce crushing in pen farrowing systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability of pigs to cope with routine farming practices can affect their welfare. This paper is part of a series on early experiences and stress, and reports on the effects of early human contact and housing on the responses of pigs to routine husbandry practices. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design, 48 litters of pigs were raised in either a conventional farrowing crate (FC) or a loose farrowing pen (LP; PigSAFE pen) which was larger, more physically complex and allowed the sow to move freely. Piglets were provided with either routine contact from stockpeople (C), or routine contact plus regular opportunities for positive human contact (+HC) involving 5 min of scratching, patting and stroking imposed to the litter 5 days/week from 0 to 4 weeks of age. At 4 weeks of age, piglets were weaned and re-housed with controlled mixing of litters within treatment. At 4 days of age, after only 3 bouts of the handling treatment, +HC pigs showed less escape behaviour than C pigs after capture by a stockperson for vaccinations and tail docking, and shorter durations of vocalisations throughout the procedures. The  +HC pigs also showed less escape behaviour when captured by a stockperson at 3 weeks of age. The FC pigs showed less escape behaviour than LP pigs after capture by a stockperson at 4 days of age but not at 3 weeks of age. Serum cortisol concentrations were lower in FC pigs than LP pigs 2 h after weaning but not at 49 h after weaning, whereas serum cortisol concentrations were lower in  +HC pigs than C pigs at 49 h after weaning but not at 2 h after weaning. In the period from 0 to 1 h after weaning, C pigs from LP performed the most escape attempts, although escape attempts were rare overall. When being moved out of the home pen by a stockperson at 21 weeks of age, FC pigs showed less baulking than LP pigs, but there were no detected effects of human contact treatment. In conclusion, both housing system and human contact during lactation affected the stress responses of pigs to routine husbandry practices. The +HC and FC pigs appeared to cope better than C and LP pigs, based on lower responses indicative of stress including escape behaviour, vocalisations and cortisol concentrations. These findings are consistent with corresponding reductions in fear that were reported in Part 1 of this series of papers., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The development of fear and stress responses in animals can be influenced by early life experiences, including interactions with humans, maternal care, and the physical surroundings. This paper is the first of three reporting on a large experiment examining the effects of the early housing environment and early positive human contact on stress resilience in pigs. This first paper reports on the responses of pigs to humans, novelty, and social isolation. Using a 2 × 2 factorial design, 48 litters of pigs were reared in either a conventional farrowing crate (FC) where the sow was confined or a loose farrowing pen (LP; PigSAFE pen) which was larger, more physically complex and allowed the sow to move freely throughout the farrowing and lactation period. Piglets were provided with either routine contact from stockpeople (C), or routine contact plus regular opportunities for positive human contact (+HC) involving 5 min of scratching, patting and stroking imposed to the litter 5 days/week from 0-4 weeks of age. The positive handling treatment was highly effective in reducing piglets' fear of humans, based on +HC piglets showing greater approach and less avoidance of an unfamiliar person at 3 weeks of age. There was evidence that this reduction in fear of humans lasted well beyond when the treatment was applied (lactation), with +HC pigs showing greater approach and less avoidance of humans in tests at 6, 9 and 14 weeks of age. The +HC treatment also reduced piglets' fear of a novel object at 3 weeks of age, and for pigs in FC, the cortisol response after social isolation at 7 weeks of age. Rearing in FC compared to LP reduced piglets' fear of novelty at 3 weeks of age, as well as their vocalisations and cortisol response to isolation at 7 weeks of age. The FC pigs showed greater approach and less avoidance of humans compared to LP pigs at 3, 4 and 6 weeks of age, but not at 9 and 14 weeks of age. These results show that positive handling early in life can reduce pigs' fear of humans, fear of novelty and physiological stress response to social isolation. The LP pigs were reared in a more isolated environment with less overall contact with stockpeople and other pigs, which may have increased their fear responses to humans and novel situations, suggesting that different housing systems can modulate these pigs' responses., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)