SELECTION OF PERFORATED FLOORS BY NEWBORN AND WEANLING PIGS

Abstract

Newborn and weanling pigs were offered pairwise choices of perforated floors of varied characteristics. Floor preferences were studied by time-lapse photography and by direct observation in a front creep area (for newborn pigs) and in flat decks (for weanlings). Plastic-coated expanded metal was most preferred (P < 0.05) by both newborn and weanling pigs, followed by perforated metal slats. Woven wire was selected least. Similar results were obtained from the overall ranking of each floor compared to all the other floors as from the pairwise comparisons of floors. Weanling pigs established floor preferences between 2 and 10 h after introduction to the pen. Social factors seemed to influence the lying location of weanlings when these animals were exposed to two floors that were close in the preference ranking. Newborn piglets showed clear preferences by 5 and 48 h after birth. The front creep area was used for lying less than 10% of the time in the first 12 h. The floor preference of young swine was correlated to friction, void:solid ratio and surface temperature of the floors. Traction was the single factor most highly correlated to floor preference by weanlings. Key words: Pigs, choice, floors, behavior, preference