• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.902-906
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• 2017

Objective: This study was conducted to characterize the behaviors and the body weight of suckling piglets in different social environments. Methods: Two groups of sows and suckling piglets housed either in individual farrowing crates in separate pens ($1.8{\times}2.4m$, the control group) or in groups of three sows with their piglets in farrowing crates in a large common enclosure ($5.4{\times}2.2m$, the treatment group) were observed with the aid of video technology for 9 consecutive hours on days 1, 2, and 3, after mixing. Results: Suckling, agonistic, and elimination behaviors of suckling piglets were significantly higher in the control group than in the treatment group. Inactive behavior was higher in the treatment group than in the control group. Most of the effects of the social environment on the suckling piglets seem to be the result of large reductions in behaviors and body weight for piglets switching from high activity to low activity. Moreover, suckling behavior and birth body weight were highly correlated with body weight at the end of the test. Conclusion: The social environment that resulted from mixing, thus, had significant effects on the behavior and body weight of suckling piglets, and behavioral characteristics, therefore, should be considered when making improvements to the husbandry and care methods used in swine production.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.135-140
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• 2017

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of mixing with unfamiliar piglets on changes in the body surface temperature of sows and piglets during the suckling period. A total of 123 pigs (12 sows and 111 piglets) were used for this study. A control group of piglets of the same litter was maintained in the farrowing pen and compared to a treatment group of piglets of three different litters mixed by removing the partition in the farrowing pen. In the treatment group, mixing of piglets was performed at 10:00 a.m. on day 11 after parturition, and the body surface temperature of sows and piglets was taken using a thermo-graphic camera at 30 minutes after mixing. In the case of sows, the average surface temperature of the treatment group ($37.1^{\circ}C$) was significantly higher than that of the control ($36.3^{\circ}C$; p<0.05); however, the hot spot temperatures did not differ significantly between groups. In contrast, the average surface temperature of piglets was significantly decreased by mixing (37.5 and $36.0^{\circ}C$ in the control and treatment, respectively; p<0.01). Moreover, the hot spot temperature tended to be lower in the treatment ($39.1^{\circ}C$) than the control ($39.4^{\circ}C$), although there was no significant difference (p=0.079). These results suggest that mixing of unfamiliar piglets during the suckling period leads to changes in the body surface temperature of sows and piglets. In the future, the correlation between body surface temperature and body core temperature should be analyzed, and additional studies investigating the effects of mixing on the physiological changes in sows and piglets are required.