The aim of the practical study is to evaluate pigs behavioural and physiological reaction to nitrogen high expansion foam as a stunning method as well as study the stunning process itself.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
Animal welfare at slaughter has recently caught increased public attention and slaughterhouse businesses face the challenge of potentially high costs for animal welfare improvements. However, scientific evidence on the overall economic effects of improved animal welfare at slaughter is scarce. The aims of this project are to identify strategies to improve animal welfare at slaughter and to investigate the economic incentives for slaughterhouse businesses to improve animal welfare. The project is interdisciplinary, combining animal science, veterinary medicine and economics with economic modelling, epidemiology, on-site observations and economic simulation studies, to assess costs and benefits related to improved animal welfare at slaughter.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
Pigs forage to meet their nutrient requirements but also because exploring and searching for food is rewarding in itself. However, intensively farmed pigs have little opportunity to engage in natural foraging behaviours. If pigs’ behavioural needs are not met from early life onwards, resilience (the ability to cope with and recover from challenges) is reduced, while disease susceptibility and anxiety are increased, leading to loss of production, reduced profits and poor welfare.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
The purpose of this project is to identify how various bioactive compounds affect the maturation, physiology and microbiota of the intestine, and how these substances can contribute to maintaining good gut health in pig and other monogastric animals.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
The aim of the proposed project is to find nutritional strategies to enhance immune competence in young pigs to improve their resilience against enteric infections.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
EasyMining, the Swedish University of Agricultural Services (SLU) and Lantmännen have started an innovative project testing the precipitated calcium phosphate (PCP) recovered in the Ash2Phos-project as feed phosphate to poultry and pigs. The hypothesis is that recovered calcium phosphate from sludge ash has the same level of phosphorus digestibility as conventional MCP in pigs and poultry.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
Nest building is one of the important natural behaviours of sows. Although domestic sows are kept indoors with resources to keep the piglets warm, they are still performing specific behaviour sequences related to nest building. The overall aim of this project is to explore individual nest building behaviour in sows and analyse the variation in the nest building profiles, (e.g. timing and quantity of specific nest building behaviours in relation to onset of farrowing). Furthermore, to study the association of the nest building behaviour profiles to sow welfare, maternal care and piglet survival.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
What will the future, sustainable pig production look like? This project includes modelling and evaluation of pig production systems. We work with environmental and social life cycle analyses.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
Did you know that over 90% of pigs are tail docked in the EU? During the pig's first week of life, the tail is docked and its length reduced. The reason for this is that pigs later in life can start biting each other on the tail, which affects both their health and production. A shorter tail reduces the risk of tail biting, but is also associated with both acute and long-term pain while not solving the underlying problem.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
The goal with this project was to increase our knowledge about the feeding value of faba beans, and to find out if/how colour-flowered can be used in pig feed.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
In nature, pigs have a varied diet and are exposed to many different bacteria from early life. This results in a large variety in their gut microbiota. In a farm setting, pigs are fed standard diet and live in a "clean" environment, which leads to less variety as well as an altered balance between different types of bacteria in the gut microbiota. A more mature microbiota accelerates intestinal maturation, thereby reducing post-weaning enteric health problems in piglets.
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
Previous research in different species has shown that early handling decreases fear of humans and has a buffering effect on stress later in life. The ability of coping with stressful situations increases. In this project, both direct effects of early human contact on production, handling and behaviour in pigs are investigated as well the pigs' ability to experience positive emotional states (by studying complex play behavior).
Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd
