Play behaviour has been related to pleasure and enjoyable, suggesting that taking part in animals expertise pleasurable states. To find out if the availability of play alternatives might improve the standard of lifetime of pigs, this examine investigated if play could be promoted and sustained in pigs past the pure interval of expression (2-6 weeks of age) in a business setting. Rising pigs (n = 288, 10 weeks of age), housed in commonplace partly slatted pens, had been assigned to both a Management remedy with no play interventions (CON, 1 m2/pig); or to a Novelty (NOV) or Play pen (PLP) therapies, with play promotion between 10 and 21 weeks delivered by means of play classes 3x/week. Play therapies obtained the intermittent provision of destructible novel objects offered both within the house pen (NOV, 1 m2/pig), or in an enclosed ‘play pen’ space offering additional area (PLP, 2.9 m2/pig).
The outcomes confirmed that play was efficiently promoted and sustained till the ending interval and equally expressed no matter additional area. Pigs with play alternatives expressed indicators that play is a rewarding and motivating behaviour and will improve the standard of lifetime of farmed pigs when supported.
Selling play behaviour in grow-finish pigs (hyperlink to the complete article)
