Housing pigs in large pens using a floor base of deep litter has been developed as an alternative to conventional, indoor, intensive methods. Deep-litter, group housing systems are cheaper to establish and are perceived as being more “welfare and environmentally friendly” for pigs compared to conventional intensive systems. However, recent industry records have shown that pigs housed in deep-litter systems have growth performance problems. In general, pigs are 10 percent less efficient in converting feed to live weight gain, are 1 to 2 mm fatter and exhibit more carcass damage (carcass bruising and non-infectious arthritis stifle joint damage) compared to conventionally housed pigs. It is possible that the growth performance problems in deep-litter systems are largely behavioural and possibly stress related, and pose a barrier to adoption of these systems by industry. This PhD program examined the social and feeding behaviour of entire male growing pigs in deep-litter systems in relation to growth performance and stress physiology.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/245764 |
| Creators | Sargent, Rebecca |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
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