On farm pig welfare assessment: comparison between slatted floors and litter based systems

An on-farm welfare assessment method is described. A list of indicators is determined from a bibliography analysis as well as consumers and farmers opinions: behaviour, health, general status, human/animal relationship. These indicators are translated into criteria: type of lesion (scratches, wounds, tail and ears lesions, lameness, leg problems), social positive and negative behaviour, investigation, promiscuity related behaviour, postures, location of animals in the pen, bursitis, animal and pen cleanliness, fear of human. A measurement method is described for each criterion. A survey is carried out in forty-two farms with concrete slatted floor and forty farms with straw bedding. Observations are made in three different rooms on 40 to 60 animals in each room:- at the beginning of the fattening period, at least ten days after the animal arrival- at the end of the fattening period, before the first departure to the slaughterhouse- on animals of intermediate weight.Lesion score is low for both floor types. Average frequency of high score lesions is under 0.3% (scratches and lameness) and 0.5% (wounds). Environment investigation is more developed in straw-based systems (53.4% ± 12.3 et 46.0% ± 14.1 of active behaviour for straw and slatted floor respectively). Between farms variability is high for all criteria, indicating that they can be used in a welfare assessment tool. Furthermore, variability among systems indicates that there is room for animal welfare improvement in each system.