Monitoring individual activity before, during and after parturition using sensors for sows with and without straw amendment

This paper suggests methods to monitor sows' activity before, during and after farrowing using sensor data. The progress of parturition is analysed from video recordings for a total of 19 sows, of which half was provided with straw (S), and half received no straw (NS). The pre-partum high active behaviour is defined as the hours when the sows performed more than 50% active behaviour per hour, allowing for 1 h of resting. It is characterised by its duration, intensity and its last hour as compared to the onset of parturition. No difference is observed for the duration and last hour of pre-partum high activity for Group S and Group NS. Nevertheless, the intensity indicates that Group S tends (p=0.07) to be more active (80%) than Group NS (70%) during the pre-partum high activity. The last hour of the pre-partum high active behaviour and the increase of the Lying Active behaviour characterise the onset of farrowing; and a reduction of the number of activity shifts characterises the end of farrowing. No difference of activity is observed for sows farrowing at night vs. in the daytime. Finally, results indicate that sows with a long pre-partum high activity also have more of long birth intervals (more than three times the median) during farrowing. In conclusion, the methods appear promising to monitor the activity around farrowing, and is less time consuming than video analyses. A better monitoring of these phases can potentially result in a better welfare and a reduction of piglet mortality. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.