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The Effects of Handling on Behavioural and Physiological Responses to Housing in Tether-Stalls Among Pregnant Pigs
- V Pedersen, J L Barnett, P H Hemsworth, E A Newman, B Schirmer
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- Journal:
- Animal Welfare / Volume 7 / Issue 2 / May 1998
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 11 January 2023, pp. 137-150
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Twenty-four primiparous pregnant pigs were randomly assigned to three handling treatments: Minimal, Positive and Negative. The pigs were moved individually to indoor concrete-floored partial stalls with neck-tethers, 2 days before handling commenced. Positive (stroking and patting on approach to an experimenter) and Negative (brief electric shock of < Is when failing to withdraw from the outstretched hand of an experimenter) handling was imposed for 3min day-1 and the amount of physical contact between handler and pig was recorded. The Minimal treatment group was subjected to routine husbandry practices only. After 3 weeks of the handling treatments and tether-housing, all pigs were catheterized under full surgical anaesthesia. The pigs were allowed 4 days of recovery before collecting the following data: daytime plasma Cortisol concentration profiles, behavioural responses to a human in an arena test, Cortisol responses to human proximity, Cortisol responses to an A CTH-challenge and immunological responses to an injected mitogen.
In the Positive treatment, the amount of physical contact between pig and handler increased during the course of the experiment, while the amount of physical contact did not change in the Negative treatment. There were no effects of treatment on behavioural responses in the arena test. The average daytime concentration of free plasma Cortisol was lower in the Positive treatment than in the Negative or Minimal treatments. The Positive treatment also showed lower total and free plasma Cortisol concentrations pre- and posthuman proximity when compared with the Negative treatment. No differences were found between treatments in total and free plasma Cortisol concentrations following an ACTH challenge. The immunological response was greater in the Positive treatment compared with the Negative treatment and tended to be greater when compared with the Minimal treatment.
It was concluded that the nature of the human-animal relationship affected the physiological stress responses of pregnant pigs to tether-housing. Indications are that a positive human-animal relationship would obviate some of the negative effects of being kept in tether-stalls by lowering the basal cortisol concentration and by increasing immunological responsiveness.
Relationships between handling, behaviour and stress in lambs at abattoirs
- P. H. Hemsworth, M. Rice, S. Borg, L. E. Edwards, E. N. Ponnampalam, G. J. Coleman
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There is community concern about the treatment of farm animals post-farm gate, particularly animal transport and slaughter. Relationships between lamb behavioural and physiological variables on farm, stockperson, dog and lamb behavioural variables pre-slaughter and plasma cortisol, glucose and lactate in lambs post-slaughter were studied in 400 lambs. The lambs were observed in three behavioural tests, novel arena, flight distance to a human and temperament tests, before transport for slaughter. Closed-circuit television video footage was used to record stockperson, dog and lamb behaviour immediately before slaughter. Blood samples for cortisol, glucose and lactate analyses were collected on farm following the three behavioural tests and immediately post-slaughter. The regression models that best predicted plasma cortisol, glucose and lactate concentrations post-slaughter included a mixture of stockperson and dog behavioural variables as well as lamb variables both on-farm and pre-slaughter. These regression models accounted for 33%, 34% and 44% of the variance in plasma cortisol, glucose and lactate concentrations post-slaughter, respectively. Some of the stockperson and dog behaviours pre-slaughter that were predictive of the stress and metabolic variables post-slaughter included the duration of negative stockperson behaviours such as fast locomotion and lifting/pulling lambs, and the duration of dog behaviours such as lunging and barking at the lamb, while some of the predictive lamb behaviour variables included the durations of jumping and fleeing. Some of the physiological and behavioural responses to the behavioural tests on farm were also predictive of the stress and metabolic variables post-slaughter. These relationships support the well-demonstrated effect of handling on fear and stress responses in livestock, and although not direct evidence of causal relationships, highlight the potential benefits of training stockpeople to reduce fear and stress in sheep at abattoirs.
Silencing of essential genes by RNA interference in Haemonchus contortus
- J. L. ZAWADZKI, A. C. KOTZE, J.-A. FRITZ, N. M. JOHNSON, J. E. HEMSWORTH, B. M. HINES, C. A. BEHM
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- Journal:
- Parasitology / Volume 139 / Issue 5 / April 2012
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 20 February 2012, pp. 613-629
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In this study we assessed three technologies for silencing gene expression by RNA interference (RNAi) in the sheep parasitic nematode Haemonchus contortus. We chose as targets five genes that are essential in Caenorhabditis elegans (mitr-1, pat-12, vha-19, glf-1 and noah-1), orthologues of which are present and expressed in H. contortus, plus four genes previously tested by RNAi in H. contortus (ubiquitin, tubulin, paramyosin, tropomyosin). To introduce double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into the nematodes we tested (1) feeding free-living stages of H. contortus with Escherichia coli that express dsRNA targetting the test genes; (2) electroporation of dsRNA into H. contortus eggs or larvae; and (3) soaking adult H. contortus in dsRNA. For each gene tested we observed reduced levels of mRNA in the treated nematodes, except for some electroporation conditions. We did not observe any phenotypic changes in the worms in the electroporation or dsRNA soaking experiments. The feeding method, however, elicited observable changes in the development and viability of larvae for five of the eight genes tested, including the ‘essential’ genes, Hc-pat-12, Hc-vha-19 and Hc-glf-1. We recommend the E. coli feeding method for RNAi in H. contortus and provide recommendations for future research directions for RNAi in this species.