Farmscape for November 29, 2005  (Episode 1981)

An associate professor with the University of Guelph is encouraging swine producers to consider the natural behavior of the pig when addressing behavioral problems within the swine herd.

The consequences of behavioral problems within commercial swine production settings can range from minor to extreme.

Among the key production limiting behavioral problems are belly nosing or belly sucking and ear biting which tend to occur in the weaner barn, tail biting which occurs more at the grower finisher stage and vulva biting which only occurs among group housed sows.

Associate Professor Dr. Tina Widows says, to tackle these problems, it's important to have a handle on what causes them.

Clip-Dr. Tina Widowski-University of Guelph

I think when we tackle any behavior problem we have to remember what the natural behavior of pigs is.

In the case of belly nosing it's a problem with redirected suckling, early weaning, so we have to accommodate that.

In the case of tail biting we think it's redirected foraging.

Pigs in the wild are built to spend their day rooting and chewing on stuff, substrates.

There's nothing to chew on in a confinement setting so we need to take that into consideration when tackling these problems.

In the case of vulva biting in sows, that one is an aggression problem.

It's competition generally for some sort of resources, food or water.

We think of what motivates the pig to do what it does at the time, think about what it would be doing in that stage of its life in the natural setting and think of how those natural tendencies are constrained or changed by how we're managing pigs in production settings.

Dr. Widowski suggests some of the difficulty in controlling behavioral problems is due to the fact that each of the different types of problems arise from different motivational systems.

She stresses we see very different behavior problems at different stages of life and each one needs to be treated in a different way.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

-Dr. Widowski presented her findings to delegates attending Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2005 earlier this month in Saskatoon.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council