The reaction of sows to the weaning of the piglets

According to the German ordinance for pig husbandry, piglets can be weaned from their mother at an age over three weeks, at the earliest at 22 days. L actation, however, goes on for a much longer time. How the sows react to th is early weaning is more or less unknown. In order to establish this, behav ioural observations were carried out on two farms, each with 12 sows. This occurred on the day prior to weaning of the piglets, on the day of weaning, as well as on the two following days. Resting behaviour, locomotion (as fa r as this is possible in a farrowing crate) and noise making were all taken into account. Lying on the stomach and noise-making were significantly mor e frequent on the day of weaning compared to the situation at the start. Th is behaviour is taken as a sign of being unsettled. At the latest, on the s econd day after weaning piglets, the sows were noticably more settled. The agitation, for which there are plausible, biological causes, is reasonable, as far as the viewpoint of the protection of animals is concerned. On its own it is not a strong enough reason for a change in the weaning practice. It is however, imaginable that through the farrowing crate with box stall, no normal sow-piglet bond had developed.