Pig Behavior and Welfare

This chapter highlights the significance of understanding pig behavior for effective management and welfare practices. Pigs exhibit a diverse range of behaviors influenced by factors like natural instincts, environmental conditions, social interactions, and overall health. From foraging and nursing behaviors to responses to stressors, studying pig behavior provides valuable insights into their well-being, enabling farmers to create environments that promote positive behaviors and minimize stress. Moreover, the sensory capacities of pigs, including vision, smell, taste, and hearing, play a crucial role in their perception of the environment and social interactions. Normal behavioral patterns, such as farrowing and nursing behavior, resting, eating, drinking, and excretory behavior, are essential for understanding pigs’ biological functions and aiding in their care in commercial production settings. The chapter also discusses abnormal behaviors observed in production conditions, such as piglet savaging, belly-nosing, oral, nasal, and facial behaviors, and tail biting, which serve as indicators of poor welfare and health. Additionally, behaviors exhibited by sick and compromised pigs are outlined, emphasizing the importance of prompt individual care to prevent adverse impacts on welfare. Furthermore, the chapter addresses the concept of swine welfare, emphasizing the need to ensure good health, safety, comfort, nutrition, and freedom to express natural behaviors for pigs. It discusses the World Organization for Animal Health’s recognition of Brambell’s Five Freedoms as pivotal guidelines for swine welfare, covering physical, mental, and natural aspects. Finally, the chapter delves into the assessment of swine welfare through animal-based criteria, including behavior, morbidity and mortality rates, changes in body weight and condition, reproductive efficiency, physical appearance, handling responses, lameness, and complications from common procedures. Overall, the comprehensive understanding of pig behavior and welfare indicators presented in this chapter aids in promoting the well-being of pigs in diverse production settings.