Understanding the Behaviour and Improving the Welfare of Pigs

“The book has excellent chapters that are actually too good to ‘just’ be book chapters. The quality of some chapters far bypasses some of the existing peer-reviewed literature reviews that are accessible online. I therefore encourage researchers to cite the book chapters and to use them as a reference work for research ideas and as guidance to improve research practices.” (Dr Irene Camerlink, Institute of Genetics and Animal Biotechnology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland)

With growing concern from consumers and regulatory agencies about the welfare of farmed animals such as pigs, the livestock sector must assess how animal welfare can be improved whilst ensuring livestock production remains economically and environmentally sustainable.

Understanding the behaviour and improving the welfare of pigs is a comprehensive review of key research in this important area. This collection reviews genetic and developmental factors affecting pig behaviour and current welfare issues at different production stages, as well as specific issues such as tail biting and castration. The book concludes with an assessment of ways to measure welfare, including techniques to monitor pig behaviour.

With its distinguished editor and international team of expert authors, Understanding the behaviour and improving the welfare of pigs will be a standard text for university researchers in pig/swine and veterinary science as well as ethology. It will also be a key reference for government and other agencies involved in regulating and monitoring farm animal welfare, as well as farmers and companies involved in pig production.

Dr Sandra Edwards is Emerita Professor in the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University, UK. Professor Edwards is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading experts on pig welfare with over 200 publications in the field. She has won numerous awards, including from organisations such as UFAW, EAAP, RSPCA and BSAS. She is a former President of the British Society of Animal Science, a Fellow of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, as well as a former member of the UK Farm Animal Welfare Council and the Animal Health and Welfare Panel of the European Food Safety Agency.

Yolande Seddon is an Assistant Professor of Swine Behaviour and Welfare at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Swine Welfare. Dr. Seddon’s research focuses on the behaviour and welfare of farmed pigs and explores the interactions between management, pig behaviour, welfare and productivity, with a strong multidisciplinary and applied research approach.

Dr Sandra Düpjan completed her doctoral thesis at the Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology (FBN), Germany. Her research typically focuses on bioacoustics and the assessment of affective states in the context of animal welfare.