Preliminary study of breeding boars' welfare

The behaviour and housing requirements of mature boars (Sus scrofa) are poorly understood although they may be an important aspect of improving welfare and productivity. Since a definition of relevant behaviours is essential to obtain quantitative information about the housing requirements of mature boars, the aim of this study was to establish the breeding boars' ethogram and to define the most relevant behaviours that can be used as welfare measurements. Breeding boars were observed in their enclosures three hours before semen collection. The boars exposed 13 functional behaviours (eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, rooting, scenting, grooming, grunting, social behaviour, elements of social behaviour, watching, stereotypes, motionlessness) and five body positions (lying on the belly, lying on the flank, standing, walking and sitting). The dominant behaviours were motionlessness and eating. The boars' vocalisations were different in sound and duration. The dominant positions were lying on the flank and belly. Lying was connected with motionlessness and not reacting to environmental changes. In this study, the behavioural repertoire and the presence of stereotypes were not a good approach to evaluate the boars' welfare. We concluded that it is necessary to have more subtle methods to evaluate how they cope with their environment and suggested that measurement of boars' welfare could be the frequency of their vigilance, since typically they will be motionless most of the time. Moreover, the duration of pig species-specific behaviours, such as rooting and scenting, could be an important measurement in approaching their welfare, because it is poorly exposed in a barren environment and environmental enrichment should stimulate those behaviours. The third possible measure of breading boars' welfare could be vocalization.