Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nr4z6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-23T07:57:39.525Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effects of three husbandry systems on health, welfare and productivity of organic pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 February 2019

C. Leeb Open the ORCID record for C. Leeb [Opens in a new window] ,
G. Rudolph ,
D. Bochicchio ,
S. Edwards ,
B. Früh ,
M. Holinger ,
D. Holmes ,
G. Illmann ,
D. Knop  and
A. Prunier
...Show all authors
C. Leeb*
Affiliation:
Department for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria
G. Rudolph
Affiliation:
Department for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria
D. Bochicchio
Affiliation:
Research Centre for Animal Production and Aquaculture, Council for Agricultural Research and Economics, Via Beccastecca, 345 San Cesario sul Panaro, 41018 Modena, Italy
S. Edwards
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Agriculture Building, Newcastle upon Tyne,NE1 7RU, UK
B. Früh
Affiliation:
Department of Extension, Training and Communication, FiBL, Ackerstrasse 113, 5070 Frick, Switzerland
M. Holinger
Affiliation:
Department of Extension, Training and Communication, FiBL, Ackerstrasse 113, 5070 Frick, Switzerland
D. Holmes
Affiliation:
School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Agriculture Building, Newcastle upon Tyne,NE1 7RU, UK
G. Illmann
Affiliation:
Department of Ethology, Institute of Animal Science, Přatelství 815, 104 00 Prague-Uhříněves, Czech Republic Faculty of Agrobiology, Food and Natural Resources, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamycka 129, 160 21 Praha-Suchdol, Czech Republic
D. Knop
Affiliation:
Organic Agricultural Sciences, University of Kassel, Steinstr.19, 37213 Witzenhausen, Germany
A. Prunier
Affiliation:
PEGASE, INRA, Agrocampus Ouest, 35590 Saint-Gilles, France
T. Rousing
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, Building FS20, 3341, 8830 Tjele, Denmark
C. Winckler
Affiliation:
Department for Sustainable Agricultural Systems, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Gregor-Mendel-Straße 33, 1180 Vienna, Austria
S. Dippel
Affiliation:
Institute of Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Dörnbergstraße 25/27, 29223 Celle, Germany
*
†E-mail: christine.leeb@boku.ac.at
Get access

Abstract

Organic pig husbandry systems in Europe are diverse – ranging from indoor systems with concrete outside run (IN) to outdoor systems all year round (OUT) and combinations of both on one farm (POUT). As this diversity has rarely been taken into account in research projects on organic pig production, the aim of this study was to assess and compare pig health, welfare and productivity in these three systems. Animal health and welfare were assessed using direct observation and records of 22 animal-based measures, comprising 17 health-, 3 productivity- and 2 behavioural measures. These were collected in pregnant sows, weaners and fattening pigs during direct observations and from records within a cross-sectional study on 74 farms (IN: n = 34, POUT: n = 28, OUT: n = 12) in eight countries. Overall, prevalence of several animal health and welfare issues was low (e.g. median 0% for pigs needing hospitalisation, shoulder lesions, ectoparasites; <5% for runts, tail lesions, conjunctivitis). Exceptions in particular systems were respiratory problems in weaners and fatteners (IN: 60.0%, 66.7%; POUT: 66.7%, 60.0%), weaning diarrhoea (IN: 25.0%), and short tails in fatteners (IN: 6.5%, POUT: 2.3%). Total suckling piglet losses (recorded over a period of 12 months per farm) were high in all three systems (IN: 21.3%; POUT: 21.6; OUT: 19.2%). OUT had lower prevalences of respiratory problems, diarrhoea and lameness of sows. POUT farms in most cases kept sows outdoors and weaners and fatteners similar to IN farms, which was reflected in the results regarding several health and welfare parameters. It can be concluded, that European organic pigs kept in all three types of husbandry system showed a low prevalence of health and welfare problems as assessed by our methodology, but respiratory health and diarrhoea should be improved in weaners and fatteners kept indoors and total piglet mortality in all systems. The results provide benchmarks for organic pig producers and organisations which can be used in strategies to promote health and welfare improvement. Furthermore, in future research, the identified health and welfare issues (e.g. suckling piglet mortality, weaning diarrhoea) should be addressed, specifically considering effects of husbandry systems.

Keywords

animal-basedassessmentindooroutdoorpig
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 13 , Issue 9 , September 2019 , pp. 2025 - 2033
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2018. Costings and herd performance. Retrieved on 30 November 2018 from https://pork.ahdb.org.uk/prices-stats/costings-herd-performance/.Google Scholar
Alban, L, Petersen, J and Busch, M 2015. A comparison between lesions found during meat inspection of finishing pigs raised under organic/free-range conditions and conventional, indoor conditions. Porcine Health Management 1, 4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baumgartner, J, Leeb, T, Gruber, T and Tiefenbacher, R 2003. Husbandry and animal health on organic pig farms in Austria. Animal Welfare 12, 631–635.Google Scholar
Baxter, EM, Lawrence, AB and Edwards, SA 2012. Alternative farrowing accommodation: welfare and economic aspects of existing farrowing and lactation systems for pigs. Animal 6, 96–117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bernardi, F 2015. Tiergesundheit und Wohlergehen von Bioschweinen in Österreich und Evaluierung der Implementierung von Betriebsentwicklungsplänen hinsichtlich Fütterung und Ökonomie. Doctoral thesis, University of Natural Ressources and Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria.Google Scholar
Bonde, M, Toft, N, Thomsen, PT and Sørensen, JT 2010. Evaluation of sensitivity and specificity of routine meat inspection of Danish slaughter pigs using latent class analysis. Preventive Veterinary Medicine 94, 165–169.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Council of the European Union 2007. Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products. Official Journal of the European Union L 189, 1–23.Google Scholar
Council of the European Union 2008. Commission Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on organic production and labelling of organic products with regard to organic production, labelling and control, Official Journal of the European Union L 250, 1–84.Google Scholar
Day, JEL, Kelly, H, Martins, A and Edwards, SA 2003. Towards a baseline assessment of organic pig welfare. Animal Welfare 12, 637–641.Google Scholar
DEFRA 1998. Condition scoring of pigs, DEFRA publications 3480. Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, London, UK.Google Scholar
Dippel, S, Leeb, C, Bochicchio, D, Bonde, M, Dietze, K, Gunnarsson, S, Lindgren, K, Sundrum, A, Wiberg, S, Winckler, C and Prunier, A 2014. Health and welfare of organic pigs in Europe assessed with animal-based parameters. Organic Agriculture 4, 149–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Edwards, S, Prunier, A, Bonde, M and Stockdale, E 2014. Special issue—organic pig production in Europe—animal health, welfare and production challenges. Organic Agriculture 4, 79–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
European Comission 2016. No title. Retrieved on 18 May 2018 from http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do.Google Scholar
Früh, B, Bochicchio, D, Edwards, S, Hegelund, L, Leeb, C, Sundrum, A, Werne, S, Wiberg, S and Prunier, A 2014. Description of organic pig production in Europe. Organic Agriculture 4, 83–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerjets, I and Kemper, N 2009. Coliform mastitis in sows: a review. Journal of Swine Health and Production 17, 97–105.Google Scholar
Guy, JH, Rowlinson, P, Chadwick, JP and Ellis, M 2002. Health conditions of two genotypes of growing-finishing pig in three different housing systems: implications for welfare. Livestock Production Science 75, 233–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holm, S 1979. A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics 6, 65–70.Google Scholar
IFOAM 2014. The IFOAM norms for organic production and processing. IFOAM, Frankfurt, Germany.Google Scholar
Jenny, B, Vidondo, B, Pendl, W, Kümmerlen, D and Sidler, X 2015. Erhebung von Risikofaktoren für Mastitis-Metritis-Agalaktie in Schweinebetrieben in der Schweiz. Schweizer Archiv für Tierheilkunde 157, 689–696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kijlstra, A and Eijck, IAJM 2006. Animal health in organic livestock production systems: a review. NJAS - Wageningen Journal of Life Sciences 54, 77–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KilBride, A, Gillman, C and Green, L 2009. A cross sectional study of the prevalence, risk factors and population attributable fractions for limb and body lesions in lactating sows on commercial farms in England. BMC Veterinary Research 5, 30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Knage-Rasmussen, KM, Houe, H, Rousing, T and Sørensen, JT 2014. Herd- and sow-related risk factors for lameness in organic and conventional sow herds. Animal 8, 121–127.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kongsted, H and Sørensen, JT 2017. Lesions found at routine meat inspection on finishing pigs are associated with production system. Veterinary Journal 223, 21–26.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Landbrug and Fødevarer F.m.b.A. 2018. Pig production in Denmark. Retrieved on 30 November 2018 from http://www.pigresearchcentre.dk/.Google Scholar
Leeb, C, Hegelund, L, Edwards, S, Mejer, H, Roepstorff, A, Rousing, T, Sundrum, A and Bonde, M 2014. Animal health, welfare and production problems in organic weaner pigs. Organic Agriculture 4, 123–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, V and Algers, B 2003. Research on animal health and welfare in organic farming: a literature review. Livestock Production Science 80, 55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mullan, S, Browne, WJ, Edwards, SA, Butterworth, A, Whay, HR and Main, DCJ 2009. The effect of sampling strategy on the estimated prevalence of welfare outcome measures on finishing pig farms. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 119, 39–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nalon, E, Conte, S, Maes, D, Tuyttens, FAM and Devillers, N 2013. Assessment of lameness and claw lesions in sows. Livestock Science 156, 10–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pandolfi, F, Stoddart, K, Wainwright, N, Kyriazakis, I and Edwards, SA 2017. The ‘Real Welfare’ scheme: benchmarking welfare outcomes for commercially farmed pigs. Animal 11, 1816–1824.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prunier, A, Dippel, S, Bochicchio, D, Edwards, S, Leeb, C, Lindgren, K, Sundrum, A, Dietze, K and Bonde, M 2014. Characteristics of organic pig farms in selected European countries and their possible influence on litter size and piglet mortality. Organic Agriculture 4, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rangstrup-Christensen, L, Krogh, MA, Pedersen, LJ and Sorensen, JT 2018. Sow level risk factors for early piglet mortality and crushing in organic outdoor production. Animal 12, 810–818.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Remience, V, Wavreille, J, Canart, B, Meunier-Salaün, MC, Prunier, A, Bartiaux-Thill, N, Nicks, B and Vandenheede, M 2008. Effects of space allowance on the welfare of dry sows kept in dynamic groups and fed with an electronic sow feeder. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 112, 284–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudolph, G, Hörtenhuber, SJ, Bochicchio, D, Butler, G, Brandhofer, R, Dippel, S, Dourmad, J-Y, Edwards, SA, Früh, B, Meier, M, Prunier, A, Winckler, C, Zollitsch, W and Leeb, C 2018. Effect of three husbandry systems on environmental impact of organic pigs. Sustainability 10, 3796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stern, S and Andresen, N 2003. Performance, site preferences, foraging and excretory behaviour in relation to feed allowance of growing pigs on pasture. Livestock Production Science 79, 257–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sutherland, MA, Webster, J and Sutherland, I 2013. Animal health and welfare issues facing organic production systems. Animals 3, 1021–1035.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, NR, Main, DCJ, Mendl, M and Edwards, SA 2010. Tail-biting: a new perspective. Veterinary Journal 186, 137–147.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, NR, Parker, RMA, Mendl, M, Edwards, SA and Main, DCJ 2012. Prevalence of risk factors for tail biting on commercial farms and intervention strategies. The Veterinary Journal 194, 77–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Temple, D, Manteca, X, Velarde, A and Dalmau, A 2011. Assessment of animal welfare through behavioural parameters in Iberian pigs in intensive and extensive conditions. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 131, 29–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vosough Ahmadi, B, Stott, AW, Baxter, EM, Lawrence, AB and Edwards, SA 2011. Animal welfare and economic optimisation of farrowing systems. Animal Welfare 20, 57–67.Google Scholar
Walker, PK and Bilkei, G 2006. Tail-biting in outdoor pig production. The Veterinary Journal 171, 367–369.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Welfare Quality® Consortium 2009. Welfare Quality® assessment protocol for pigs (sows and piglets, growing and finishing pigs) (Welfare Quality® Consortium, Lelystad, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Willer, H, Schaack, D and Lernoud, J 2017. Organic farming and market development in Europe. In The world of organic agriculture. Statistics and emerging trends 2017 (ed. H Willer and J Lernoud), pp. 207–243. FiBL & IFOAM – Organics International, Frick and Bonn, Switzerland and Germany.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Leeb et al. supplementary material

Leeb et al. supplementary material 1

Download Leeb et al. supplementary material(File)
File 143.9 KB