Samband mellan galtars sociala beteende, ätbeteende och resultat i stationsprövning
Relationship between social behaviour, feeding behaviour and performance of boars using single-space feeders
A study on the behavioural patterns of growing boars is presented. The study was preformed at Quality Genetics? boar testing station Månseryd in Sweden. The boars were purebred Yorkshire, Hampshire or Landrace, born in nine different nucleus farms. The study is based on two batches of boars, with 63 and 69 boars respectively.
The boars were fed from single space-feeders, ACEMA. The feeder recognizes the pig via an electronic transponder in the ear and collects information on each visit to the feeder: time of the day, time spent in the feeder and consumed amount of feed. The information is stored in the systems computer. The hypothesis of the study was that the aggressive boars make their way to the feeder by force, and thus achieve a higher growth rate, which in turn will give them a higher estimated breeding value for growth rate.
The boars were studied with regard to skin lesions, aggressive behaviour, how they spent their time and fear of humans. Almost all boars had some skin lesions at arrival, and first week after arrival one third of the boars had skin lesions. The most common skin lesion was superficial scratch marks on the head and front part of the body. The amount of aggressive behaviour varied between pens. The study showed that the aggressive boars did not force their way to the feeder and did not get higher phenotypic growth rate and breeding value for growth rate. The boars spent most of their time lying in the pen. The single space feeder was on average occupied 15.5 hours during a 24-hour period, and there was no line of boars waiting to enter the feeder. One third of the visits to the feeder started between 18.00 and 06.00 (night time). Aggressiveness around the feeder was low, and to some proportion the same boars initiated and received aggressions.