Behavioural assessment of coping abilities in boars used in artificial insemination studs : relationships with the responses to the first semen collection attempt

Poster. The reasons for training failure in commercial boar studs and premature culling (20‐30% among French AI boars) are not clearly understood. This study aims to assess the behavioural adaptation of boar to the environment and to the human approach at the entrance in the quarantine and the predictive link with the first efficient semen collection. The behaviour of sixty boars was recorded during the two first hours following the entrance in quarantine pens and during a human approach test performed the following day.Thereafter, behaviour was also recorded during the period where a dummy was daily presented to boars until the first efficient semen collection. High individual variation was observed in the delay of first ejaculation success (2,3 ± 2,0 days) , the duration of collection (553 ± 181 sec) and the behaviour around the dummy. Boars lying down during the two hours after arrival mounted the dummy and ejaculated more quickly than boars still standing upright at the end of the 2‐hour recording period. In contrast, facility to obtain the first semen collection did not differ according to the responses to the human approach test (fearful, mistrustful or confident). Further investigations are needed to evaluate the predictive links between the longevity of AI boars and the behavioural responses to the events occurring during quarantine or semen collection training period.