PREFERENCES OF PREGNANT SOWS FOR WET AND DRY CONCRETE FLOORS

The influence of feeding location and confinement on the preferences o f pregnant sows for wet and dry concrete floors was evaluated. Prefere nce was assessed by providing sows with access to two adjacent pens, o ne with a dry concrete floor and the other with a wet concrete floor. Sows were fed in either the wet pen or dry Pen and allowed continuous free access to both pens, or they were confined overnight in one of th e pens and allowed 8 h access per day to the other pen. After 2 days e xperience of this routine, time spent in the dry pen, number of visits to the other pen, pen use and behaviour were recorded over an 8-h per iod on the test day. The results showed that sows spent 80-90% of thei r time on the dry floor. Feeding sows in the wet pen altered their pre ferences for the first 2 h on the test day, but subsequently feeding l ocation did not influence preference. Sows did not sit, kneel or lie o n the wet floor. Confinement increased occupancy of the dry pen and ca used an increase in walking behaviour. Sows confined on dry floors sho wed a marked increase in the number of visits to the wet pen, indicati ng that short periods of confinement may induce behavioural rebound ef fects. It is concluded that at 20-degrees-C a wet concrete floor is an aversive environment for sows and that previous confinement (or exclu sion from an environment) can influence preference in continuous acces s choice tests in unexpected ways.