Miljöberikning för grisarnas välbefinnande
Bökboxen - en prototyp för att motverka stereotypa beteenden hos grisar
The demand för Swedish pork meat is increasing every day. This leads to agricultural farming having to develop as an industry, with larger and more rationalised units to make the farming more effective and to raise the financial profit. The consequence of this is that it affects the animals when their surroundings become more industrial. The pig´s natural behaviour becomes restricted by the limitations of the facilities, which leads to them becoming understimulated. Helena Kummel, a teacher at Munkagård upper secondary school and also an educated animal inspector has developed a prototype that could possibly replace the pig´s natural rooting behaviour inside the barn. The porpuse of this report is to study "bökboxen" in the gilts´actual living enviroment, through qualitative- and quantitative analysis. The observation was performed when the pigs were between eight to sixteen weeks of age. Our results from the qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis show that the use of bökboxen increased in the intervention group during the observation. Stimulation in the beginning of a pig´s life can prevent the tendency to develop stereotypical behaviour. We believe that bökboxen can have a positive result on pig´s stereotypical behaviour, but that the contraption still is not enough to stimulate all of the pig´s natural behaviour. Our conclusion is that further research is needed in later periods of the lives of the intervention group, to see if "bökboxen" makes a difference.