A COMPARISON OF PRODUCTIVITY AND WELFARE OF GROWING PIGS IN 4 INTENSIVE SYSTEMS

Productivity, behaviour and injury was compared in four housing treatments for pigs within one building: deep-straw, Straw-Flow (R), bare-concrete and slats, Three replicates of four uniform lots of entire male pigs (15 per treatment) were studied. The pigs were grown from 27 to 90 kg liveweight. They were offered food and water ad libitum. Due to significantly greater food intake, the pigs from the pooled treatments with straw grew significantly faster than pigs from the pooled treatments without straw. There were no significant differences in food-to-gain ratio. Pigs with straw spent a large proportion of their time manipulating it. Pigs without straw were less active and spent more time manipulating the pen hardware and other pigs. Pigs with straw played more than those without straw. Pigs in the pooled treatments with straw had significantly lower injury scores. Adventitious bursitis of the hock was significantly reduced by keeping pigs on deep-straw and significantly increased by keeping pigs on slats. The welfare of pigs with straw appeared better than those without straw. There were few significant differences between the two straw treatments or between the two treatments without straw.