Document type : article published in Le Paysan Breton
Author : Bernard Laurent
Preview: Trust between a farmer and his or her animals reduces fear, stress and susceptibility to disease. For the breeder, it is synonymous with increased safety at work during handling and, ultimately, personal satisfaction. Work carried out on farms, presented by Ifip in a webinar jointly organized with the Chamber of Agriculture, has made it possible to record in detail the reaction of sows during approach tests. A few seconds are all that is needed to assess the animal's confidence in humans. The sow either moves away or makes contact. The approach time is measured. Herd members are then allocated to one of two categories depending on their behaviour, and the zootechnical performance of each group is analysed. "Confident sows give birth to 0.6 more piglets than their distrustful counterparts. And 0.3 more piglets are weaned by them ," says Valérie Courboulay from Ifip.
