Selection for Behavior Improves Animal Welfare and Economics of Pig Production

The Director of Research and Development for Canada with Topigs Norsvin Canada says selecting pigs for breeding that interact well together is helping improve animal welfare and the economics of pork production. About a year ago Topigs Norsvin added social breeding values to the traits for which it selects breeding stock.

 

Dr. Pramod Mathur, the Director of Research and Development for Canada with Topigs Norsvin Canada, told Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2019 in Saskatoon, animal behavior is important because animal welfare is all about the well being of the animal in its own environment and social environment is part of it.

 

 

The interaction of animals, not only with humans, but interaction among them is really very important and that's why we have emphasized social interaction. What we have looked at is how the animals interact with each other and how they grow together and the social breeding values that we are calculating goes with the principle that, if an animal is agressive, it gets to the feed drop first, he might grow well.

 

We might select that type of pig but it has a negative influence on the pen mates so therefore we would select pigs that are socially supportive which has it's own positive growth but also a positive influence on the pen mates. We select for the direct growth, the direct genetic effect, and we select for indirect genetic effect.

 

That way we think that we are improving animal behavior. Our experiments show that this type of selection can also reduce some undesirable behavior, like tail biting when there is no tail docking.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.