Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be

Jonathan Guy presents Poster 43 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 5: Development and improvement of welfare assessment protocols
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Poster 43
EVALUATING PROTOCOLS TO ASSESS THE VALUE OF DIFFERENT
ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT ITEMS FOR PIGS
J. Guy, Z. Banks, S.L. Trickett, S.A. Edwards
School of Agriculture, Food, Rural Development, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Two studies were undertaken to evaluate different protocols for assessing environmental
enrichment for pigs and specifically (1) the extent to which a short term evaluation could reliably
assess relative enrichment value of items, (2) whether relative use in short term choice tests reflects
longer term attractiveness, (3) whether providing items in rotation rather than individually
influences use and (4) whether simultaneous access tests reflect relative object-directed behaviour
with single object presentation.
Study 1 used 36 pigs (35 kg liveweight) in groups of 3 in part-slatted housing. Four enrichment
items with different properties were compared – 2 hanging objects (sisal rope, metal chain) and 2
foraging substrates provided in a trough (sawdust, wood shavings). Items were presented in pairs, in
all combinations, with each group of pigs exposed to one combination for 5 days then the other 2
items for another 5 days. Study 2 used 250 pigs (8 kg liveweight) in groups of 10 in fully-slatted
housing. Five treatments were compared – continuous access to suspended rope, continuous access
to a wood block on the floor, alternating weekly access to rope then wood, alternating weekly
access to wood then rope, or continuous access to both items simultaneously. The response variable
was time interacting with each enrichment item.
In the first study, some items were consistently used more than others irrespective of combination
(e.g. rope: 0.08, sawdust: 0.02; sem 0.015, p