Pigs do naturally have a high motivation to explore their environment. In a poor environment pigs still display this motivation and when there is no stimulation in the pen, pigs direct their behavior at pen-mates and pen components. Lack of stimulation can lead to decreased welfare and increased stress. This study investigates if extra stimuli by toys would affect pigs growth, health and welfare. Growing pigs (219) were followed during 7 weeks and divided into twenty two pens, eleven with toys and eleven without toys. I found partly support for the prediction that toys would help in a short time perspective but there was no support for the prediction that in a longer run the toys (used in this experiment) would increase pigs welfare. One explanation to this might be the straw that all the pens had (by law in Sweden), which seemed to be the most importuned component for satisfying pigs behavioral needs.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hgo-731 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Södergren, Carin |
| Publisher | Högskolan på Gotland, Institutionen för kultur, energi och miljö |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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