Table 2.
Effect of the farm, piglets’ age, and tail docking on the behaviour observed. The values are estimated least-square means of the value.
| Farm | Piglets’ Age | Tail-Docking | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| F1 | F2 | SEM * | p-Value | T1 | T2 | SEM * | p-Value | UT | TD | SEM * | p-Value | |
| Pen explorative behaviour 1 | 39.3 | 20.9 | 0.27 | 0.529 | 22.0 | 37.0 | 0.26 | 0.216 | 22.4 | 36.2 | 0.26 | 0.107 |
| Negative social behaviour 1 | 6.2 | 3.9 | 0.34 | 0.830 | 7.0 | 3.5 | 0.33 | 0.795 | 4.6 | 5.3 | 0.35 | 0.339 |
| Other active behaviour 1 | 35.0 | 48.9 | 0.25 | 0.737 | 55.2 | 32.8 | 0.25 | 0.939 | 42.1 | 43.0 | 0.25 | 0.427 |
| Inactive behaviour 2 | 60.3 | 57.4 | 0.08 | 0.648 | 58.6 | 59.2 | 0.08 | 0.922 | 59.2 | 58.6 | 0.08 | 0.936 |
| Tail biting 3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.46 | 0.569 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.42 | 0.196 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.44 | 0.250 |
| Curly tails 4 | 66.7 | 66.0 | 0.05 | 0.187 | 66.7 | 66.0 | 0.05 | 0.879 | 62.8 | 69.5 | 0.05 | 0.177 |
| Hanging down tails 4 | 20.3 | 18.2 | 0.22 | 0.013 | 18.5 | 19.9 | 0.22 | 0.645 | 20.7 | 17.8 | 0.22 | 0.730 |
| Tucking down tails 4 | 8.6 | 11.0 | 0.29 | 0.555 | 9.0 | 10.5 | 0.277 | 0.71 | 20.7 | 17.8 | 0.22 | 0.784 |
* SEM = Standard error of means. 1 The values were calculated as the mean of the behaviour/ total active behaviour observed (%). 2 The values were calculated as the mean of inactive behaviour/total active behaviour observed (%). 3 The values were mean of the piglets showing the behaviour/ total of piglets in each litter (%).4 The values were means of the prevalence of piglets exhibiting the tail posture in each litter (%). Values in bold evidenced significant association (p < 0.05).