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Regulation Of Contact With Offspring By Domestic Sows: Temporal Patterns And Individual Variation, E. A. Pajor, D. L. Kramer, D. Fraser

Rearing Behavior Collection

We used a sow-controlled housing system to examine temporal and individual variation in the tendency of sows to associate with young. During a 5-week lactation, 22 sows and litters were housed in a pen where the sow could freely leave and re-enter the piglets' area by stepping over a barrier that the piglets could not cross. Despite this option, the sows remained with the piglets almost constantly during the 1st day after birth. Nineteen sows ('leavers') changed to spending most of their time away from the litter at some point in the lactation. The change was rapid, often within a …