Stereotypies,aggression and the feeding schedules of tethered sows

Thirty tethered sows were observed for 5 min every half-hour for 9 h spanning the two feeding periods. Activity, consisting largely of food searching behaviour and drinking, was largely restricted to two 2-h periods following each feed. Three categories of stereotyped behaviour were observed and these were closely tied to the feeding periods. Short-duration bouts of rubbing, head-waving and bar-biting occurred during food delivery, while long-duration bouts of highly stereotyped and idiosyncratic sequences of rubbing and drinking were shown by older sows immediately after feeding. Vaccuum chewing tended to occur slightly later. I suggest that frustration of feeding motivation rather than under-stimulation underlies stereotypies in pigs, and that the different forms may represent stereotype of the appetitive and consummatory phases. Aggression was rare and was not closely related to the feeding periods or to stereotypies.