Implementation of Computer-Vision-Based Farrowing Prediction in Pens with Temporary Sow Confinement.

The adoption of temporary sow confinement could improve animal welfare during farrowing for both the sow and the piglets. An important challenge related to the implementation of temporary sow confinement is the optimal timing of confinement in crates, considering sow welfare and piglet survival. The objective of this study was to predict farrowing with computer vision techniques to optimize the timing of sow confinement. In total, 71 Austrian Large White and Landrace × Large White crossbred sows and four types of farrowing pens were included in the observational study. We applied computer vision model You Only Look Once X to detect sow locations, the calculated activity level of sows based on detected locations and detected changes in sow activity trends with Kalman filtering and the fixed interval smoothing algorithm. The results indicated the beginning of nest-building behavior with a median of 12 h 51 min and ending with a median of 2 h 38 min before the beginning of farrowing with the YOLOX-large object detection model. It was possible to predict farrowing for 29 out of 44 sows. The developed method could reduce labor costs otherwise required for the regular control of sows in farrowing compartments.

Dynamics of Sows' Activity Housed in Farrowing Pens with Possibility of Temporary Crating might Indicate the Time when Sows Should Be Confined in A Crate before the Onset of Farrowing.

One way to reduce the negative impact of farrowing crates on sow welfare is to limit confinement of sows from the onset of farrowing until the end of the critical period of piglets' life a few days after farrowing. In order to provide an indication of the time when sows should be confined in crates, ear tag-based acceleration data was modeled to provide the following two types of alarms: A "first-stage" alarm that indicates the beginning of nest-building behaviour, and a "second-stage" alarm that indicates the ending of the nest-building behaviour. In total, 53 sows were included in the experiment. Each sow had an ear tag with an accelerometer sensor mounted on the ear. Acceleration data were modeled with the Kalman filtering and fixed interval smoothing (KALMSMO) algorithm. It was possible to predict farrowing on the basis of increased activity in the validation dataset with a median of 8 h 51 min before the onset of farrowing. Alarms that indicated the need for confinement of the sow in a crate were generated with a median of 2 h 3 min before the onset of farrowing. These results suggest that the developed model should be sufficient to provide early warning of approaching farrowing and secondary alarm indicating the need to confine a sow in a crate.

Cognitive enrichment in piglet rearing: an approach to enhance animal welfare and to reduce aggressive behaviour.

It is known that pigs raised in enriched environments express less aggressive behaviour. For this reason, a new method of cognitive environmental enrichment was experimented at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Germany. In the first phase, 78 suckling piglets were trained to learn the link between a sound given by an electronic feeder and a feed reward in the form of chocolate candies during a period of 8 days. In the second phase, the same piglets were used in resident-intruder tests to verify the potential of the feeding system to interrupt aggressive behaviour. The analysis of all training rounds revealed that piglets learned the commands during 8 days of training and the interest of the piglets increased within training days (P < 0.05). In the resident-intruder test, 79.5% of aggressive interactions were broken by feeder activation. In interactions where either the aggressor or the receiver reacted, a high number of fights were stopped (96.7% versus 93.1%) indicating that it was not relevant if the aggressor or the receiver responded to the feeder activation. We conclude that the electronic feeding system has the potential to be used as cognitive enrichment for piglets, being suitable for reducing aggressive behaviour in resident-intruder situations.

Tail biting in pigs--causes and management intervention strategies to reduce the behavioural disorder. A review.

One of the largest animal welfare problems in modern pig production is tail biting. This abnormal behaviour compromises the well-being of the animals, can seriously impair animal health and can cause considerable economic losses. Tail biting has a multifactorial origin and occurs mainly in fattening pigs. High stocking densities, poor environment and bad air quality are seen as important factors. However, it is presumed that a plurality of internal and external motivators in intensive pig production can trigger this behaviour which is not reported in sounders of wild boars. The aim of this review is to summarize the causes and the effects of tail biting in pigs and present management strategies that are likely to reduce its incidence. In particular, management strategies by applying Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) technologies to monitor and control the behaviour of the pigs may be suitable to detect the outbreaks of tail biting at an early stage so that counter measures can be taken in time.

How do pigs behave before starting an aggressive interaction? Identification of typical body positions in the early stage of aggression using video labelling techniques.

The aim of this study was to identify, quantify, and describe pre-signs of aggression in pigs and the early stages of aggressive interactions. The experiment was carried out at a commercial farm on a group of 11 male pigs weighing on average 23 kg and kept in a pen of4 m x 2.5 m. In total 8 hours were videorecorded during the first 3 days after mixing. As a result, 177 aggressive interactions were identified and labelled to find pre-sign body positions before aggressive interactions, attack positions and aggressive acts performed from these positions. A total of 12 positions were classified as pre-signs (P1-P12) and 7 of them were identified immediately at the start of aggressive interactions (P6-P12). Most common pre-sign positions were P3-pigs approaching and facing each other (24%) and P2-initiator pigs approaching from the lateral side (18%). In 80% of the cases the duration of pre-signs was 1-2 sec 72% of all aggressive interactions were short (1 to 10 sec). The most frequent attack positions were P12-inverse parallel (39.5%), P7-nose to nose, 90 degrees (19.77%) and P9-nose to head (13.5%). The most frequent aggressive acts from attack positions were head knocking (34.4%), pressing (34.4%) and biting of different body parts (29.4%). Head knocking was mostly observed in relation to P7 and P2 positions and biting was common in the P7 position. In conclusion, pigs adopt specific pre-signs and body positions before the escalation of aggressive interactions. This could be used as potential sign to identify a beginning aggression.