RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
A1 Loibl, Peter
A1 Windisch, Wilhelm
A1 Preißinger, Wolfgang
T1 Examination of high-resolution feed intake data of grower finisher pigs confronted with typical short-term disturbances in stable routine
JF Czech Journal of Animal Science
YR 2020
VO 65
IS 7
SP 258
OP 267
DO 10.17221/25/2020-CJAS
UL https://cjas.agriculturejournals.cz/artkey/cjs-202007-0003.php
AB Modern pig feeding systems allow the collection of highly detailed feeding data for each animal. These data enable the examination of individual feeding behaviours to assess an animal's wellbeing. As such, four different treatments ‒ undisturbed control, starving (no feed for 24 h, restrictive feeding), feed change (changes in feed composition) and social stress (exchanging of animals between the pens and short-term reduction of accessible water) ‒ were designed to simulate typical short-term disturbances in a practical stable routine. Each treatment was conducted over 2 pens with 12 animals each. Zootechnical performance and feed intake behaviour measures were assessed for each animal. Treatments did not affect zootechnical performance. Results showed that short-term disturbances did not influence feed intake behaviours, such as daily feed intake, amount of intake per feeder visit, number of daily feeder visits and daily feeding action with highest feed intake. Animals developed individual feeding patterns that persisted through artificial short-term disturbances. However, data suggested that an individual animal's behavioural pattern was strongly influenced by the group (pen) due to group dynamics among animals.