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Simple Summary: In natural conditions, before the onset of farrowing, sows build a nest mainly to protect piglets from adverse weather conditions and predators. In modern commercial farms nest-building behaviour is limited, because, during the period of nest building, sows are confined in a farrowing crate. This has a negative effect on sow welfare. Recently, the concept of temporary crating has been introduced to achieve a compromise between the needs of the sow and her piglets. According to this concept, sows could be kept out of the crate at the time of prenatal nest-building behaviour and after the critical period of piglets' life. In this study, we developed a method to monitor sows' behaviour on the basis of accelerometer data. The developed monitoring method provides the following two types of alarms: A "first-stage" alarm that indicates the beginning of nest-building behaviour, with a median of 8 h 51 min before the onset of farrowing and a "second-stage" alarm that indicates the end of nest-building behaviour with a median of 2 h 3 min before the onset of farrowing. On the basis of these two types of alarms a farmer can make a decision when to provide adequate nest-building material and when to confine a sow in a crate for protection of the piglets' welfare. 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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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.

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.