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An assessment, using physiological parameters, of the welfare of group housed gilts on three feeding systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

A H Stewart ,
S A Edwards  and
A M Mackenzie
A H Stewart
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College581 King Street Aberdeen AB9 1UD
S A Edwards
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College581 King Street Aberdeen AB9 1UD
A M Mackenzie
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary PathologyUniversity of Liverpool
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Extract

The assessment of well-being is of prime importance in the development of new production systems. For meaningful conclusions to be drawn, every aspect under the broad headings of physical, physiological and behavioural well being should be studied. There are a number of instances where, in extreme circumstances, physiological parameters have been shown to affect health and production, and are considered by some to be useful in determining long term welfare status. There is, however, evidence to suggest that the interactions between physiological functions are too complex to allow simple conclusions. As part of a comprehensive study into welfare of group housed gilts (Stewart et al 1993) this paper describes the results of an immune challenge, an adrenal function test (ACTH challenge) and adrenal weight and how they are associated with other welfare parameters.

Type
Pig Housing and Welfare
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Production (1972) , Volume 1994 , March 1994 , pp. 183
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1994

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References

Hennessy, D.P., Stelmasiak, T., Johnston, N.E.. Jackson, D.N. and Outch, K.H. 1988. Consistent capacity for adrenocentrical response to ACTH administration in pigs. Am. J. Vet. Res. 49: 1276–1283 Google Scholar
Stewart, A.H., Edwards, S.A., Brouns, F. and English, P.R. 1993. An assessment of the effect of feeding system on the production and social organisation of group housed gilts. Proc Winter Meeting BSAP, Scarborough.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackenzie, A.M. Rowan, T.G. Carter, S.D. Dixon, J.B. and Tebble, J. 1993. Assessment of immune responses as indicators of welfare in calves. Proc. Winter Meeting BSAP, Scarborough.Google Scholar