Better Pork February 2017

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February 2017Pork News &Views 25
Enrichment for Pigs
In 2014 the National Farm Animal Care
Council of Canada released an updated
Code of Practice for the Care and
Handling of Pigs. Included in this are
requirements and recommendations for
enrichment. The information presented
here is a summary of ‘Section 1.8 En-
richment’ from the Code of Practice:
Requirements and Recommended
Practices
Requirements:
“Pigs must be provided with mul-
tiple forms of enrichment that aim to
improve the welfare of the animals
through the enhancement of their
physical and social environments.”
Recommended Practices:
1. “Provide continual access to a range
of novel suspended toys such as cloth
strips or rubber, or straw dispensers,
along with free toys on the pen floor
in housing where the use of substrates
may impede manure management sys-
tems.”
2. “Provide some type of physical
enrichment such as straw, hay, wood,
sawdust, mushroom compost, peat or a
mixture of such that does not adversely
affect the health of the animals when it
can be safely used.”
Goals of Enrichment
According to the Code of Practice,
enrichment enhances the animals’ physi-
cal and/or social environments thus
improving animal welfare. The stated
goals of enrichment include:
• Increasing the number and range of
normal behaviours,
• Preventing the development of
abnormal behaviours, or reducing the
frequency or severity,
• Increasing positive utilization of the
environment, and
• Increasing the animal’s ability to cope
with behavioural and physiological chal-
lenges.
Types of Enrichment
The barn environment can be enhanced
though several types of enrichment:
• Social – Direct or indirect contact
with other pigs,
• Occupational – Psychological enrich-
ment that provides animals with control
or challenges, and enrichment that
encourages exercise,
• Physical – Altering the animals’
enclosures or adding accessories such as
objects and substrates,
• Sensory – Visual, auditory, olfactory,
tactile and taste stimuli, and
• Nutritional – Presenting varied
or novel food types, or changing the
method of food delivery.
Points to Remember
Pigs can quickly lose interest in an
enrichment item and thus the best types
of enrichment are complex, changeable,
malleable, destructible and are safe if
potentially ingestible.
Enrichment materials need to be
inspected on a regular basis to ensure
they do not cause health problems or
compromise food safety.
Providing enrichment objects that are
suitable for chewing and/or rooting can
help deter pigs from ear and tail-biting,
belly nosing and sham chewing.
Enrichment does not need to be expen-
sive and items can often be made from
materials already on farm (chains, cloth
strips, hoses, wood, straw, etc.).
The Code of Practice for the Care and
Handling of Pigs (2014) can be down-
loaded from:
pdfs/codes/pig_code_of_practice.pdf
Laura Eastwood, Swine Specialist
519-271-6280
Hydrogen Sulphide in Swine Barns
Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) awareness
for liquid manure handling systems is
needed to ensure worker and swine
safety. Hydrogen Sulphide is created
from decomposing biological material
in the absence of oxygen. Sulfur en-
ters the liquid manure system through
feces and urine. H2S remains bound to
manure molecules resulting in accumu-
lation over time. The concentration of
accumulated H2S can increase rapidly
during agitation.
There are several H2S hazardous loca-
tions in swine operations, including:
1. Shallow barn gutters,
2. In-barn deep manure pits,
3. Underground or outside storage
tanks, lift or pump stations, and
4. Earthen manure storage facilities.
H2S is the most dangerous gas pro-
duced from decomposing manure. A
worker should not go into a pit that
is below floor level without proper
equipment and training. There are
several symptoms of H2S exposure
Ministry of Agriculture,
Food and Rural Affairs
February 2017