Farmer attitude on pregnant sow management and welfare in Gampaha district, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Proper management of pregnant sows supports the welfare and health of both the sow and her neonatal piglets. However, negative farmer attitudes toward sow welfare often led to a poor human-animal relationship, resulting in reduced humane management practices. In this study, farmers’ attitudes towards key practices in pregnant sow management and welfare were assessed using a questionnaire in a face-to-face interview with fifty-eight swine farmers, covering all 13 veterinary divisions of Gampaha District. Attitudes of farmers were tested using a five-point Likert scale. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. The majority of farmers were Catholic/Christian (83%) and 76% were fully engaged in small-scale, pig farming, managing 50 pigs or less. Overall, 44% of the farmers had over 20 years of experience in swine farming and 76% were aware of the term “animal welfare”. All farmers agreed that sow should handle with more care during pregnancy. In overall, 93% farmers provided farrowing pen and 98% agreed on protecting sow from rain and sharp sunlight. Identified critical risk factors affecting the welfare of pregnant sows included uncertainty (24%) and disagreement (15%) regarding the facilitation of natural behaviors, disagreement (21%) over the provision of comfortable lying substrates and uncertainty (53%) on whether farrowing is painful, while 35% believed it is not. Moreover, 55% of farmers perceived pigs as greedy and smelly animals, while 67% believed that pigs are not emotional. In pregnant sow management: feeding swill feed (79%), lack of feeding concentrates (22%), lack of immediate treatments in poor health or injury (17%), and lack of provision of bedding material (36%) were identified as key welfare issues. Farmers’ experience did not affect the tested negative attitudes toward pigs (smelly, greedy, unpleasant) and no correlation was found with the involvement (full time/part time) or the level of farming satisfaction (P>0.05). Further improvement in positive welfare attitudes of swine farmers toward pregnant sow management in the studied district is suggested.