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Turning and Walking by Gilts in Modified Gestation Crates

University of Illinois, Urbana 61801

Abstract

Mated gilts in gestation crates designed specially so gilts could turn or walk at will did turn around and walk. In Exp. 1, in crates 2.1 m long, flared at one end and pointed at the other, and 56 or 61 cm wide at center, gilts’ turning frequency averaged 11.2 turns/d. Neither feeder nor waterer location, independent of the other, influenced turning frequency. Most turns apparently were not motivated by any obvious external stimulus. Narrowing crates from 61 to 56 cm reduced turning rate from 12.9/d to 8.9/d. Gilts spent more time facing the feeder when it was at the flared end (F; 66.1%) than when it was at the pointed end (P; 49.4%). Turning was followed by standing or lying, without simultaneous eating or drinking, 65.3% of the time. A greater proportion of turns were succeeded by eating or drinking when feeder and waterer were located in opposite ends of the crate (39.2%) instead of in the same end (29.7%). As a result of turns followed by only standing or lying, gilts were oriented head by head 52.9% of the times. Mean time of day for turning was 1016 in wide crates and 0855 in narrow crates. Also, mean turning time with waterer at P vs at F was 1012 vs 0928. In Exp. 2, a 2 x 2 factorial arrangement of treatments compared crates that were either 2.1 m or 3.4 m long and had either flared or rectangular ends. Neither length nor shape affected gilts’ total daily duration of standing. Gilts stood up 8.3 times/d in rectangular crates, 13.9 times/d in flared. Gilts stood longer per occasion in rectangular crates than in flared crates (19.8 vs 13.2 min). They averaged 10.3 turns/d in flared crates and they averaged 11.8 turns/d in crates 2.1 m long and 8.8 turns/d in the longer crates. Crate design did not affect the distance a gilt walked (129 m/d). Gilts in longer crates that were flared did not substitute walking for turning. Their turning did not seem to be motivated by the need or desire to face or orient the body one way or another (e.g., in Exp. 1), nor did it seem to fulfill the need to move in general. Perhaps the gilts turned around simply in order to face the opposite direction for a change, regardless of which direction that might have been.

¹ Anim. Sci. Dept. Address reprint requests to: 126 Anim. Sci. Lab., 1207 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, IL 61801.

² Present address: Box 64, Englewood, OH 45322.

³ Fulbright Visiting Scholar. Permanent address: Building Technology Dept., Agric. Univ., As, Norway.

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