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In response to the public's concerns about animal welfare in swine husbandry, the pig (Sus scrofa domesticus) sector introduced improved measures to focus on single rather than multiple dimensions of animal welfare concerns without accounting for their impact on public attitudes. These measures failed to improve attitudes to pig husbandry. The present study uses a more comprehensive approach by evaluating animal welfare measures in terms of their effect on animal welfare, farm income and public attitudes. Four measures were defined for each of the following societal aspects of sow husbandry: piglet mortality; tail biting and the indoor housing of gestating sows. A simulation model was developed to estimate the effects of the measures and Data Envelopment Analysis used to compare measures in terms of their effects on animal welfare, farm income and public attitudes. Only piglet mortality measures were found to have a positive effect on farm income but they showed a relatively low effect on animal welfare and public attitudes. The most efficient measure was that which included straw provision, daylight and increased group sizes for gestating sows. The level of improvement of a measure on animal welfare did not necessarily equate to the same level of improvement in public attitudes or decrease in farm income.

The pig industry is struggling with negative attitudes of people toward sow husbandry. To be able to respond to these attitudes, the pig industry first has to understand people’s attitudes. The first objective of this study was to determine the attitudes of Dutch people toward sow husbandry with regard to animals, humans, and the environment. The second objective was to group people based on their attitudes toward sow husbandry and determine and compare the socio-demographic characteristics of these groups. An online survey was conducted in the Netherlands and there were 1,607 respondents. On average, respondents had negative attitudes toward all issues defined in this study. The most negative attitudes were toward the effect on both animals and consumers of the use of antibiotics, the number of animals kept per square meter, the possibility for animals to go outside, food safety risks, public health risks, and environmental waste. The findings indicate the importance of considering all the issues identified in this study during the process of developing measures to improve people’s attitudes toward sow husbandry. Respondents could be divided into four clusters; each cluster represented different attitudes toward sow husbandry and had different socio-demographic characteristics. This makes it possible for the pig industry to assign people with specific socio-demographic characteristics to one of the clusters and predict their attitudes toward sow husbandry. Knowledge of these attitudes enables the pig industry to predict how different groups of people will respond to different animal welfare measures. Results of this study are therefore useful for the pig industry to help improve people’s attitudes toward sow husbandry.

The pig sector is struggling with negative attitudes of citizens. This may be the result of conflicting attitudes toward pig husbandry between citizens and other stakeholders. To obtain knowledge about these attitudes, the objectives of this study were (1) to determine and compare attitudes of various stakeholders toward animals, humans and the environment in the context of pig husbandry and (2) to determine and compare the acceptability of publically discussed issues related to pig husbandry of various stakeholders. A questionnaire was distributed to citizens, conventional pig farmers, organic pig farmers, pig husbandry advisors and pig veterinarians. Respondents could indicate their attitude toward aspects related to animals, humans and the environment in the context of pig husbandry and they could indicate their opinion about the acceptability of issues of pig husbandry, e.g. piglet mortality and inside pig housing. Based on measured attitudes and the acceptability of issues, the studied stakeholders could be divided into three distinctive groups. The group of citizens and organic pig farmers showed negative attitudes toward all aspects of pig husbandry, the group of conventional pig farmers and pig husbandry advisors only showed negative attitudes toward aspects related to economics and the group of pig veterinarians showed negative attitudes to specific aspects of pig husbandry. This indicates that stakeholders have different interests and different perspectives with regard to pig husbandry. The pig sector should learn to understand citizens’ perspectives and take these into account in their line of work, the implementation of animal welfare measures and in their communication.

Natural antibodies (NAb) perform many important functions in various immune responses and are often polyreactive of nature with low binding affinity. Natural auto-antibodies (N(A)Ab) are NAb binding at least one auto-antigen. Polyreactivity of N(A)Ab has been proposed to rest on post-translational polymorphism of the immunoglobulin F(ab)(2) fragment caused by various locally present oxidizing agents, salts and lower or higher pH. Challenge with pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMP), such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or lipoteichoic acid (LTA), respectively, may underlie N(A)Ab polymorphism by the activation of inflammatory cells whose products affect the three-dimensional structure of N(A)Ab F(ab)(2) fragments. We evaluated by Western blotting the effects of subcutaneous administered LPS and LTA, respectively, on binding characteristics of chicken N(A)Ab towards the 'auto-antigen' chicken-liver-cell-lysate (CCL) in situ prior to (day 0) and 3 days after subcutaneous challenge, as well as the effect of different in vitro maltreatments in the form of oxidizing agents: 5mM hydrogen peroxide, 10mM hydrogen peroxide, pH 2.6, and pH 2.0, aqua dest, and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) as control, respectively, on chicken N(A)Ab polymorphism. On both days 0 and 3 after challenge, N(A)Ab in plasma from all chickens bound to CCL. No significant differences of in vivo or in vitro maltreatments were found on the number of CCL fragments bound by the N(A)Ab. However, significant differences in the staining patterns of individual CCL molecular weight-identified fragments (MWIF) were found. The sum (Sigma) of newly stained fragments and disappeared fragments (SigmaMWIF) that were bound by plasma samples was significantly different between in vivo LPS or in vivo LTA challenged birds. Also, significant differences in the percentages of extinction intensity of these SigmaMWIF were found. In addition, the plasma samples obtained at day 0 and day 3 from both LTA and LPS challenged birds were all similarly prone to in vitro maltreatment. In vitro maltreatment with pH 2.0 had the highest effect on chicken N(A)Ab polymorphism, whereas aqua dest had the lowest effect. The change of CCL fragments recognized by chicken N(A)Ab was not caused by unmasking immune complexes. The present findings suggest that (1) N(A)Ab are present in chicken plasma, (2) chicken N(A)Ab are prone to irreversible post-translational polymorphism in vitro, and (3) post-translational polymorphism of chicken N(A)Ab can be initiated by PAMP-induced inflammatory agents in situ. The consequences of these finding are discussed.

Attitudes toward sow husbandry differ between citizens and conventional pig farmers. Research showed that moral values could only predict the judgment of people in case of culling healthy animals in the course of a disease epidemic to a certain extent. Therefore, we hypothesized that attitudes of citizens and pig farmers cannot be predicted one-on-one by moral values. Furthermore, we were interested in getting insight in whether moral values can be useful in bridging the gap between attitudes toward sow husbandry of citizens and pig farmers. Based on a questionnaire, it was found that pig farmers and citizens, when considered as one group, shared the valuation of most moral values. However, when studying the four clusters of citizens with different attitudes toward sow husbandry, determined in a previous study, a variation in valuation of the moral values between the clusters of citizens and farmers came to the fore. This means that moral values are interpreted differently by groups of people when forming attitudes toward sow husbandry. The results of our study give an indication of which moral values are weighed differently between clusters of citizens and pig farmers. This information can be useful in future research on attitudes toward animal husbandry in order to understand why attitudes differ between groups of people. Besides, our results can be useful for the pig sector and citizens to learn to understand each other’s attitudes. With this understanding it is possible to invest in a husbandry system that can build on societal support.