Housing systems of sows during lactation are shifting from crated systems towards non-restrictive systems, to improve sow welfare. However, the increased behavioural freedom of sows in such free farrowing systems currently comes with an increase in piglet mortality. In these systems, piglet survival becomes highly dependent on the quality of maternal care. A good mother is calm, careful and responsive to the needs of her litter. Yet, there are clear differences in maternal care between sows. Therefore, it is crucial to increase our understanding of maternal behaviour in these systems.

During this project, large scale behavioural observations will be performed on free farrowing sows with known genetic background, to identify maternal behaviours around parturition and during lactation and to relate these to piglet survival and litter weight gain. The second part of the project will build upon the first part and intends to elucidate the underlying endocrine regulation of the maternal care behaviours.

In a first experiment (Feb-March 2023) we aimed to investigate how parturition length and pain and stress during parturition influence the sows’ maternal behaviour during lactation by using sensor data and behavioural observations. The data obtained during this experiment will form the basis for a large scale behavioural study on the new free farrowing nucleus farm of Topigs Norsvin in Canada, called “Innova”. This multidisciplinary approach that combines behavioural, physiological and genetic information, will form the basis for the genetic selection of sows with high quality maternal care in free farrowing systems.