Pork Producers Encouraged to Share Ideas for Selecting Pigs for Group Housing Based on Aggression

By Bruce Cochrane.

Pork Producers in Canada and the United States are being invited to share their experience in selecting pigs for group housing with a focus on reducing aggression.

As part of a project being conducted by Michigan State University to develop new tools to address aggression in group sow housing pork producers in the United States and Canada are being surveyed to learn how they use behavior in their on-farm management of pigs.

This survey is designed for all different types of farms, whether they have breeding sows or not and participants are asked about ease of handling of both breeding pigs and market hogs and any tools they use to minimize aggression, monitor potential issues like disease outbreaks or tail biting and things like that.

Dr. Sarah Ison, a post doctoral fellow in the Animal Science Department of MSU, says information gathered through the survey is being used to help develop tools based on behavior, genomic and genetic factors to select pigs for group housing based on aggression.

Dr. Sarah Ison-Michigan State University

We've been working on a project funded by the USDA and the National Pork Board.

The aim of the project is to reduce production losses by identifying pigs that are best suited for group living.

This has come off the back of the increasing number of sows now housed in group sow housing as opposed to individual stalls.

The whole MSU project has been going for about two years now.

Actually all of the data that we're collecting for the research side of the project involving the pigs has all been collected.

For the survey, it's fairly flexible.

We hope to have some preliminary results to present at the beginning of December but really we want to maximize the results we're getting so we're happy to keep the survey open for as long as it takes to get enough results.

For more information on the survey or to participate visit msupigbehavior.questionpro.com.

Source: Farmscape