Behaviour and Welfare of Pigs from Weaning to 60 Days of Age

The objective this study was to evaluate the behaviour and welfare of piglets from weaning to 60 days in different farming systems. The experiment was conducted at the college Dr. Francisco Maeda - FAFRAM, located at Ituverava-SP, during 39 days in the period May-June 2010. Thirty Landrace pigs were used in this study, divided into three groups of ten, where they were housed in pens with suspended floor (T1), with deep bedding (T2) and concreted floor (T3). Environmental variables were collected in order to allow the housing system evaluation, such as: dry bulb temperature (DBT), humid bulb temperature (HBT), black globe temperature (BGT) and relative humidityof air (RH). Those readings were taken on the interval of 7am to 12am and to 3pm. Other variables, such as: heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR) and rectal temperature (RT), and other variables position (eating, sleeping, walking) were considered to evaluate the behaviour of animals on the different farming systems. Data were subjected to analysis of variance and mean comparation Tukey test (P < 0.05). The environmental variables were not significant between the rearing systems for thermal comfort zone of the animals. The respiratory rate remained within physiological limits for the species in all treatments and behavioural variables sleeping was significant differences, according to the creation system that the animals were kept. It was concluded that the environmental and physiological variables analyzed were close to the thermoneutral zone indicating the animal welfare system independent of creation, and that the behaviour is influenced by the breeding system to which the animal is kept.