The Effect of Environmental Enrichment on Stress, Behavior, and Production in Gestating and Farrowing Sus scrofa Sows

The materials of confinement housing often limit periparturient behaviorial expression, which may increase stress This has been shown to influence parturition, which affects production Natural fiber cloth or rope may allow natural behaviors with little to no concern for ingestion However, there is a lack of enrichment protocols for gestating and farrowing sows This study aims to assess the impact of a natural fiber cloth on gestating and farrowing sow stress, behavior, and production The purpose was also to evaluate appropriate provision criteria for future implementation of environmental enrichment in commercial settings We hypothesized that enriched sows will display more natural behaviors, be less stressed, and have more live piglets and fewer stillborns Sus scrofa sows were randomly divided into enriched and control groups (n = 6 each) A burlap cloth was hung with twine in the pens of enriched sows 6 d before the expected farrowing date and removed 24 h postfarrowing Salivary cortisol was measured to evaluate stress level 6 d and 2 d before the expected farrowing date, 24 and 48 h after environmental enrichment, daily until farrowing, and at the start and end of farrowing Video surveillance was used to monitor how often sows lied down, ate, drank, interacted with the burlap, bit crate bars, and bounced feeders Thirty-minute timeframes were examined postenrichment same day, 24 h post-enrichment, pre-farrowing, postfarrowing, and before enrichment removal (COVID-19 restrictions have delayed video analysis) Preliminary results demonstrate that, on average, enriched sows produce more live piglets (avg = 17 67) and fewer stillborns (avg = 3 17), than control sows (avg live = 17, avg SB = 5 17) No differences in salivary cortisol were observed (P = 0 78) between groups As expected, salivary cortisol in all sows increased (P < 0 05) when farrowing began and remained elevated when the last piglet was farrowed (P < 0 05) 24 h post-farrowing, salivary cortisol levels decreased to a level similar to what they measured 24 h pre-farrowing (P < 0 05) in both groups The current study results will facilitate the determination of an enrichment protocol and additional housing criteria to increase sow production and profit for swine farmers