Acknowledgements Book of abstracts - Publicaties - Vlaanderen.be

Laura Boyle presents Poster 56 during the poster sessions in the Aula.
Session theme 6: Free topics
128
Poster 56
EFFECT OF STAGE OF GESTATION ON LYING BEHAVIOUR OF SOWS
IN CRATES
L.A. Boyle
Teagasc, Pig Production Development Unit, Moorepark Research Centre, Fermoy, Co. Cork, Ireland
Although gestation crates will be banned in the EU from 2013 they will still be permissible for 28
days post service. Furthermore, crates are still widely used around the world. Sow body size has
increased dramatically in recent years and this could have negative implications for sow welfare in
crates.
The lying behaviour of 105 pregnant sows in gestation crates was scored based on observations
lasting 60 minutes from the start of feeding. Behaviour was categorised as: still standing (SS) at end
of observation; sow lay down with no difficulty (ND); one or more failed attempts (FA) to lie and
sow lay down by lowering the hindquarters (LH) instead of knees first. Sows were in three stages of
pregnancy: (1) 1-40 days post-service (n=37); (2) 40-80 days post-service (n=30) and (3) 80-110
days post-service (n=38). Chi-square tests (SAS) were used to analyse the data.
There were no differences in the proportion of sows that were categorised as SS between the three
stages of pregnancy (stage 1=0.27; stage 2=0.33 and stage 3=0.40; p>0.05). The proportion of sows
in stages 2 (0.27) and 3 (0.18) that were categorised as ND was lower than in stage 1 (0.51) (p