The Welfare of Pigs Animal Welfare VOLUME 7 Series Editor Clive Phillips, Professor of Animal Welfare, Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Australia Titles published in this series: Volume 1: The Welfare of Horses Natalie Waran ISBN 1-4020-0766-3 Volume 2: The Welfare of Laboratory Animals Eila Kaliste ISBN 1-4020-2270-0 Volume 3: The Welfare of Cats Irene Rochlitz ISBN 978-1-4020-3226-4 Volume 4: The Welfare of Dogs Kevin Stafford ISBN 978-1-4020-4361-1 Volume 5: The Welfare of Cattle Jeffrey Rushen, Anne Marie de Passille´, Marina A.G. von Keyserlingk and Daniel M. Weary ISBN 978-1-4020-6557-6 Volume 6: The Welfare of Sheep Cathy M. Dwyer ISBN 978-1-4020-8552-9 Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde Editor The Welfare of Pigs 13 Editor Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service 125 S. Russell Street West Lafayette IN 47907 USA [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-4020-8908-4 e-ISBN: 978-1-4020-8909-1 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4020-8909-1 Library of Congress Control Number: 2008933377 # Springer ScienceþBusiness Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper 987654321 springer.com Animal Welfare Series Preface Animal welfare is attracting increasing interest worldwide, especially in developed countries where the knowledge and resources are available to provide better management systems for farm animals, as well as companion, zoo and labora- tory animals. The key requirements for adequate food, water, a suitable envir- onment, companionship and health are important for animals kept for all of these purposes. There has been increased attention given to farm animal welfare in the West in recent years. This derives largely from the fact that the relentless pursuit of financial reward and efficiency, to satisfy market demands, has led to the development of intensive animal production systems that challenge the con- science of many consumers in those countries. In developing countries, human survival is still a daily uncertainty, so that provision for animal welfare has to be balanced against human welfare. Animal welfare is usually a priority only if it supports the output of the animal, be it food, work, clothing, sport or companionship. In principle the welfare needs of both humans and animals can be provided for, in both developing and developed countries, if resources are properly husbanded. In reality, however, the inequitable division of the world’s riches creates physical and psychological poverty for humans and animals alike in many parts of the world. Livestock are the world’s biggest land users (FAO, 2002) and the farmed animal population is increasing rapidly to meet the needs of an expanding human population. This results in a tendency to allocate fewer resources to each animal and to value individual animals less, particularly in the case of farmed pigs where herds of several thousand are not uncommon. In these circumstances, the importance of each individual’s welfare is diminished. Increased attention to welfare issues is just as evident for companion, laboratory, wild and zoo animals. Of increasing importance is the ethical management of breeding programmes, since genetic manipulation is more feasible, but there is less public tolerance of the deliberate breeding of animals with genetic abnormalities. However, the quest for producing novel genotypes has fascinated breeders for centuries. Dog and cat breeders have produced a v vi Animal Welfare Series Preface variety of extreme forms with adverse effects on their welfare, but nowadays the quest is pursued in the laboratory, where the mouse is genetically manipulated with equally profound effects. The intimate connection between animals and humans that was once so essential in some spheres is rare nowadays, having been superseded by techno- logically efficient production systems where animals on farms and in labora- tories are tended by increasingly few humans in the drive to enhance labour efficiency. With today’s busy lifestyle, companion animals too may suffer from reduced contact with humans, although their value in providing companion- ship, particularly for certain groups such as the elderly, is increasingly recog- nised. Consumers also rarely have any contact with the animals that produce their food. In this estranged, efficient world, people struggle to find the moral imperatives to determine the level of welfare that they should afford to animals within their charge. Some, in particular many companion animal owners, aim for what they believe to be the highest levels of welfare provision, while others, deliberately or through ignorance, keep animals in impoverished conditions where their health and wellbeing can be extremely poor. Today’s multiplicity of moral codes for animal care and use are derived from a broad range of cultural influences, including media reports of animal abuse, guidelines on ethical consumption and campaigning and lobbying groups. This series has been designed to help contribute towards a culture of respect for animals and their welfare by producing academic texts discussing the provision for the welfare of the major animal species that are managed and cared for by humans. They are not detailed blue-prints for the management of each species, rather they describe and consider the major welfare concerns, often in relation to the wild progenitors of the managed animals. Welfare is considered in relation to the animal’s needs, concentrating on nutrition, beha- viour, reproduction and the physical and social environment. Economic effects of animal welfare provision are also considered where relevant, as are key areas where further research is required. In this volume one of the world’s leading scientists in the field of pig welfare science, Dr. Jeremy Marchant-Forde, has brought together many experts in the field of pig science. Dr. Marchant-Forde has been one of the most active researchers in pig welfare worldwide in recent years, at Cambridge and De Montfort Universities in the United Kingdom and most recently with the U.S. Department of Agriculture – Agricultural Research Service in the United States. With the growing pace of knowledge in this new area of research, it is hoped that this series will provide a timely and much-needed set of texts for researchers, lecturers, practitioners, and students. My thanks Animal Welfare Series Preface vii are particularly due to the publishers for their support, and to the authors and editors for their hard work in producing the texts on time and in good order. Clive Phillips Series Editor Professor of Animal Welfare and Director, Centre for Animal Welfare and Ethics, School of Veterinary Science, University of Queensland, Australia Reference Food and Agriculture Organisation (2002). http://www.fao.org/ag/aga/index_en.htm. Acknowledgements Editing or writing a book is not a task that should be taken lightly – I understand that now! The biggest problem is that the writing of a book chapter, though nice to be asked to do, falls below writing grant proposals, writing refereed journal articles, and carrying out research and teaching in the priority list. Firstly, therefore I am very grateful to those chapter authors who did contribute to this volume – I sincerely hope that the wait was worthwhile. I would also like to thank the publishers and Prof. Clive Phillips, the series editor-in-chief, for their patience and help as the book evolved into its final form. My current supervisor, Dr. Don Lay, Jr., USDA-ARS, has played an important part in the finalization of this book. I have been very appreciative of the support and time that he has given me to complete this project. Through- out my career, I have been very fortunate in working with, and interacting with, many excellent scientists from all over the world. The field of applied ethology is truly welcoming, nurturing and challenging and I will forever be grateful to Prof. Don Broom for giving me the first opportunity to dip my toes into research in such an influential group as the one that he has led for so long at the University of Cambridge. Finally, I have to thank Ruth, Millie and Harry Marchant-Forde. The love and support that you show me is the best thing in my life and I dedicate this book to you. ix Contents 1 Introduction to the Welfare of Pigs .......................... 1 Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde 2 The Natural Behaviour of the Pig............................ 13 Richard B. D’Eath and Simon P. Turner 3 Advances in the Study of Cognition, Behavioural Priorities and Emotions ........................................... 47 Suzanne Held, Jonathan J. Cooper and Michael T. Mendl 4 Welfare of Dry Sows ..................................... 95 Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde 5 Welfare of Pigs in the Farrowing Environment.................. 141 Anna K. Johnson and Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde 6 Housing the Fattening Pig ................................. 189 Niamh E. O’Connell 7 Pigs and Humans ........................................ 211 Hans A.M. Spoolder and Susanne Waiblinger 8 Balance Between Porcine Disease and Welfare ................. 237 Wim J.A. Boersma, Jan van der Meulen and Theo A. Niewold 9 Welfare into Practice ..................................... 287 David C.J. Main 10 Welfare of Pigs During Transport and Slaughter................ 301 Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde and Ruth M. Marchant-Forde 11 Future Perspectives of the Welfare of Pigs..................... 331 Don C. Lay, Jr. and Jeremy N. Marchant-Forde Index ..................................................... 343 xi Contributors Wim J.A. Boersma Animal Sciences Group of Wageningen UR, 8200 AB Lelystad, The Netherlands, [email protected] Jonathan J.