Caracterización de la actividad animal en alojamientos porcinos de la fase de destete

Resumo

The temperature influences on animal activity, which affects on the CO2 concentration, a variable with high impact on animal welfare. Animal behavior has a decisive impact on the operation of air conditioning systems, with consequent impact on the energy consumption of farms. The objective of this work is to characterize animal activity, daily and seasonally, in piglets of 6-20 kg, in conventional operating conditions. The study was conducted in a weaning pig farm located in the Northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The animal activity was measured by the use of passive infrared (PIR) sensors during the time period between 06/10/2011 and 15/09/2012. The farms with slatted floors generally have peaks of activity in the morning and evening, during feeding (twice a day). According to the recorded data, the beginning of the activity of the animals takes place around 7:00 at the morning in summer cycles and about 8:00 in winter. The peak activity occurs between 9:00 and 10:00, about 2 hours after the start of the activity, this one reduces to the minimum at 13:00 and goes up slightly towards at 15:00, coming back to the minimum at 17:00 and finally reaching again a maximum between 18:00 and 19:00. Analyzing the evolution of the activity, it observes that in summer cycles the activity is spread throughout the day, while in the winter cycles the activity is focused in the last hours of the afternoon.