Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig behaviour and mental state
This study is part of an ongoing project, PigTraWel (2019) which aims to investigate interactions between animal transporters and slaughter pigs during loading and unloading by mapping different driving methods, their effects on pigs and transporters and the efficiency of the work. Pigs are exposed...
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| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco |
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SLU/Dept. of Animal Environment and Health (until 231231)
2019
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| Materias: |
| _version_ | 1855572450576695296 |
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| author | Lundin, Martina |
| author_browse | Lundin, Martina |
| author_facet | Lundin, Martina |
| author_sort | Lundin, Martina |
| collection | Epsilon Archive for Student Projects |
| description | This study is part of an ongoing project, PigTraWel (2019) which aims to investigate interactions between animal transporters and slaughter pigs during loading and unloading by mapping different driving methods, their effects on pigs and transporters and the efficiency of the work. Pigs are exposed to a number of environmental stressors prior to slaughter that can affect pig behaviour and welfare, the working situation of stockpeople involved and cause meat quality problems. Previous studies propose that the nature of the on-farm interactions between stockpersons and pigs may have an influence on pigs behavioural response during pre-slaughter treatments. Negative human-animal interactions on-farm are related with a high fear response in pigs, while positive human-animal interactions have been found to reduce animals fear response, increase ease of handling, and thus have benefits for both health and production. Pigs are able to generalize aversive or rewarding treatment by one stockperson and associate the treatment with the presence of humans. The aim of this study was to examine stockpersons working routines during handling of pigs in Swedish commercial pig farms and how specific stockperson handling affect pig behaviour. The study also aimed to examine stockpersons normative attitudes towards pig and pig caretaking in relation to pigs behavioural response. Previous research has found that there is a relationship between stockperson attitude and behaviour and pigs behavioural response. On-farm recordings were carried out at nine commercial pig farms at different locations in Sweden and data were collected by four different methods: a stockperson questionnaire of beliefs and perceptions, observations of working routines of stockpersons, Qualitative Behaviour Assessment of pigs and assessment of pig reactions to a human stranger. The results shows that the stockpersons included in the study performed more rough than gentle handling actions towards the pigs. However, the results could not demonstrate a significant relationship between either positive or negative human-animal interactions and pig behaviours indicative of fear or a positive emotional state. Nor was a relationship between stockperson beliefs and pig behaviour supported by the results, but the stockpersons had in general positive normative beliefs towards pigs and pig caretaking. Nevertheless, the results indicate that pigs may become less fearful in contact with human strangers the more time the stockperson spends with the pigs. |
| format | H2 |
| id | RepoSLU14680 |
| institution | Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences |
| language | Inglés swe |
| publishDate | 2019 |
| publishDateSort | 2019 |
| publisher | SLU/Dept. of Animal Environment and Health (until 231231) |
| publisherStr | SLU/Dept. of Animal Environment and Health (until 231231) |
| record_format | eprints |
| spelling | RepoSLU146802019-07-05T11:53:24Z Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig behaviour and mental state Effekten av djurskötarens attityder och hantering på slaktgrisars beteende och känslotillstånd Lundin, Martina animal handling stockperson attitude fear response mental state human-animal interaction finishing pigs qualitative behaviour assessment and fear assessment This study is part of an ongoing project, PigTraWel (2019) which aims to investigate interactions between animal transporters and slaughter pigs during loading and unloading by mapping different driving methods, their effects on pigs and transporters and the efficiency of the work. Pigs are exposed to a number of environmental stressors prior to slaughter that can affect pig behaviour and welfare, the working situation of stockpeople involved and cause meat quality problems. Previous studies propose that the nature of the on-farm interactions between stockpersons and pigs may have an influence on pigs behavioural response during pre-slaughter treatments. Negative human-animal interactions on-farm are related with a high fear response in pigs, while positive human-animal interactions have been found to reduce animals fear response, increase ease of handling, and thus have benefits for both health and production. Pigs are able to generalize aversive or rewarding treatment by one stockperson and associate the treatment with the presence of humans. The aim of this study was to examine stockpersons working routines during handling of pigs in Swedish commercial pig farms and how specific stockperson handling affect pig behaviour. The study also aimed to examine stockpersons normative attitudes towards pig and pig caretaking in relation to pigs behavioural response. Previous research has found that there is a relationship between stockperson attitude and behaviour and pigs behavioural response. On-farm recordings were carried out at nine commercial pig farms at different locations in Sweden and data were collected by four different methods: a stockperson questionnaire of beliefs and perceptions, observations of working routines of stockpersons, Qualitative Behaviour Assessment of pigs and assessment of pig reactions to a human stranger. The results shows that the stockpersons included in the study performed more rough than gentle handling actions towards the pigs. However, the results could not demonstrate a significant relationship between either positive or negative human-animal interactions and pig behaviours indicative of fear or a positive emotional state. Nor was a relationship between stockperson beliefs and pig behaviour supported by the results, but the stockpersons had in general positive normative beliefs towards pigs and pig caretaking. Nevertheless, the results indicate that pigs may become less fearful in contact with human strangers the more time the stockperson spends with the pigs. Denna studie är en del av ett pågående projekt, PigTraWel (2019), som syftar till att undersöka interaktioner mellan djurtransportörer och slaktgrisar under pålastning och avlastning inför slakt genom att kartlägga olika drivningsmetoder och deras effekter på grisar och transportörer samt effektiviteten av arbetet. Grisar utsätts för ett antal stressfaktorer i deras fysiska och sociala miljö före slakt som kan påverka deras beteende och välfärd, berörda djurskötares arbetssituation samt orsaka köttkvalitetsproblem. Tidigare studier visar att interaktionen mellan djurskötare och grisar kan påverka grisars beteenderespons när de hanteras inför slakt. Negativa interaktioner mellan människor och djur som sker på gården är relaterade till en hög nivå av rädsla bland grisar, medan positiva interaktioner mellan människor och djur har visat sig minska rädslan, underlätta framtida hantering och därmed ha fördelar för både djurhälsa och produktion. Grisar kan generalisera aversiv eller belönande hantering av en djurskötare och associera hanteringen med närvaron av människor. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka djurskötares arbetsrutiner vid hantering av grisar på svenska kommersiella slaktgrisgårdar och hur specifika djurskötarbeteenden påverkar grisars beteende. Studien syftade även till att undersöka grisskötarnas normativa attityder jämtemot grisar och grisskötsel i förhållande till grisarnas beteenderespons. Tidigare forskning har visat att det finns ett samband mellan djurskötarens attityder och beteenden å ena sidan och grisars beteenderespons å den andra. Observationer utfördes på nio kommersiella gårdar utspridda i Sverige och data samlades in genom fyra olika metoder: en djurskötarenkät om attityder och uppfattningar om grisar och grisskötsel, observationer av grisskötarnas arbetsrutiner, kvalitativ beteende-bedömning av grisar och en bedömning av grisars reaktion till en främmande människa. Resultaten visar att de djurskötare som ingick i studien utförde fler negativa beteenden än positiva vid skötseln av grisarna. Studien kunde dock inte påvisa ett signifikant samband mellan positiva eller negativa interaktioner och grisbeteende som kunde antas indikera rädsla eller ett positivt känslotillstånd. Inte heller sambandet mellan djurskötarattityd och grisbeteende var statistiskt signifikant. Djurskötarna hade generellt positiva normativa attityder gentemot grisar och grisskötsel. Resultaten tyder på att grisar kan bli mindre rädda i kontakt med främmande människor, ju mer tid djurskötaren spenderar med grisarna. SLU/Dept. of Animal Environment and Health (until 231231) 2019 H2 eng swe https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/14680/ |
| spellingShingle | animal handling stockperson attitude fear response mental state human-animal interaction finishing pigs qualitative behaviour assessment and fear assessment Lundin, Martina Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig behaviour and mental state |
| title | Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig
behaviour and mental state |
| title_full | Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig
behaviour and mental state |
| title_fullStr | Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig
behaviour and mental state |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig
behaviour and mental state |
| title_short | Effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig
behaviour and mental state |
| title_sort | effects of stockperson attitudes and handling on finishing pig
behaviour and mental state |
| topic | animal handling stockperson attitude fear response mental state human-animal interaction finishing pigs qualitative behaviour assessment and fear assessment |