A NOTE ON THE BEHAVIOR AND PERFORMANCE OF GROWING PIGS PROVIDED WITH STRAW IN A NOVEL HOUSING SYSTEM

Straw-Flow is a novel housing system for growing pigs which simplifies the handling of bedding and manure by allowing pigs to take unchopped straw from dispensers. Three groups of 50, 50 and 60 Large-White X La ndrace pigs were housed in Straw-Flow pens from 5 to 90 kg. They were supplied daily with 50 to 100 g unchopped straw per pig and given food ad libitum. From 30 to 90 kg, mean growth rate was 863 g/day and food conversion ratio was 2.56 kg food per kg growth. The pigs' behaviour was divided approximately into: 0.820 lying, 0.100 active, 0.075 feedi ng and 0.005 drinking (on a proportional basis). There were no differe nces (P > 0.05) between groups or different weights for any of the beh aviour categories. The pigs were less active before noon than after no on (P < 0.05). The daily number of visits to the drinker between weigh ts 5 and 25 kg fell from 23.7 to 11.0 (P < 0.05). A single drinker, of new design, appeared to be adequate for a group of 50 to 60 pigs.