How does different production systems affect the welfare status of pigs from farm to abattoir? : developing and evaluating animal welfare protocols

Sammanfattning: The welfare of livestock animals is of great importance among Swedish citizens and has economical importance for the profitability of the pig production. On the day of slaughter, pigs are exposed to new environments and interactions that may compromise their welfare. There are different pig production systems in Sweden e.g., conventional, EU-organic, and KRAV-certified production, with different regulations and requirements related to slaughter. The overall aim of this master thesis was to develop protocols based on animal welfare indicators to investigate how different production systems affect the pigs’ welfare in connection to loading, transport, unloading and lairage at the abattoir. Three protocols were developed, consisting of pig behaviour, skin damages, lameness and human-animal interactions. The protocols were tested during direct observations on growing-finishing pigs from a conventional batch and a KRAV-certified batch at loading on-farm, unloading, lairage and in the driving race to stunning at the abattoir. Scan sampling was used to observe pig behaviour on pigs in lairage at the abattoir. The protocols for observing pigs at loading on-farm, unloading at the abattoir and in driving race consisted of annotating the number of pigs displaying a certain behaviour, having skin damage and being lame. The human-animal interaction protocol consisted of annotating the frequency of different interactions. In addition to the protocols, interviews were performed with farmers, haulers and personnel from the abattoir to identify their experience of pig behaviour and their motivation to use a potential protocol. In general, the results showed that pigs from the conventional batch displayed a larger variation and repertoar of behaviours and that more pigs in that batch had skin damage compared to pigs from the KRAV-certified batch. In addition, pigs from the conventional batch were involved in a larger number and types of human-animal interactions compared to pigs from the KRAV-certified batch. The conclusion of this study is that pigs from both conventional and KRAV-certified batches displayed behaviours indicating fear and stress during loading on-farm, unloading at the abattoir and during the driving race to stunning. A larger variation of fear and stress behaviours was displayed by pigs from the conventional batch compared to pigs from the KRAV-certified batch. However, due to the low number of animals and batches, the results are descriptive and are not necessarily representative for the different production systems in general. The animal welfare indicators that were tested and considered feasible to use are skin damage, turning back, reluctance to move, backing up, slipping and thermoregulatory behaviour. However, the developed protocol for investing the pig behaviours, skin damages and lameness during loading on-farm, unloading at the abattoir and in the driving race to stunning was not feasible to perform, as the measured variables may overtax the observer when observing groups of 15 pigs. On the other hand, the protocol for human-animal interaction and pig behaviour in lairage was feasible to perform, as only one handler was observed at each area and the protocol for lairage contained relevant behaviours. Farmers, haulers and personnel from the abattoir experienced turning back and reluctance to move as unwanted behaviours during loading on-farm and unloading at the abattoir, which was supported by the result from this study. However, the motivation to implement a protocol varied among the respondents, but a recurring message was that the protocol must make improvements to be implemented. Other factors that were emphasised were financial compensation for implementing a protocol and a clear protocol easy to understand.