The main objective of this paper is the monitoring of daily activity patterns of fattening pigs at different locations in the housing environment using UHF-RFID. Four hundred fattening pigs were equipped with UHF-RFID ear tags and monitored during the fattening period for about four months. The RFID antennas were installed at the feeding troughs, playing devices and drinkers. A validation phase for each of these locations was carried out prior to the first data collection. The sensitivity (true positive rate) of the UHF-RFID system was about 80% at the feeding trough and the playing device and about 60% at the drinkers. The mean of the daily visiting time of all pigs at the trough was about 55 min. The mean visiting duration at the playing device was about 38 min and at the drinkers about 9 min. The visiting times of the pigs showed a high intra- and inter-variability. It was observed that the average visit duration at the feeding trough decreases over the course of a fattening period but increases at the playing device. A documentation of visiting times of animals is possible utilizing RFID systems, allowing a higher data density than video or direct observations.

Animal welfare labels have been introduced to improve housing conditions in conventional pig systems. Animal welfare should be increased by, e.g. offering a well-accepted and comfortable solid lying area. This study investigates the effect of bright light from an LED spotlight in the slatted area on lying and elimination behavior of fattening pigs. It was tested for two pen designs different in feeder and arrangement of the slatted area with 18 pigs per pen. The study took place in two different compartments (spatial repetition) with two pens of each pen design. The light intensity in the slatted area was increased by two spotlights within one pen of each design as case-control approach. A total of 648 fattening pigs were tested over four and five fattening periods respectively. The lying behavior was assessed by video scan sampling at three different weekdays at three times (morning, noon, evening) on each observation day. On average, the lying area was used by 60–63% of the pigs in the control pens and 67–69% in the spotlight pens. Additionally, a tendential effect of the deviation of the room temperature from the set temperature existed. The fouling of the animals and pen was not affected by the light intensity.

Increasing demands on animal welfare and the higher temperatures in summer due to climate change make it necessary to adapt conventional pig husbandry systems. A cooled, solid lying area has the potential to increase lying comfort and reduce the heat stress, which improves animal welfare. In the present study, the effect of a cooled, solid lying area on lying and elimination behavior was investigated. In two fattening compartments, eight pens with 28 pigs each were rebuilt. Two pen designs, different in feeder place and type, were tested. The floor was cooled from 24.5 to 20 °C by cool water in half of the pens. A total of 672 fattening pigs were tested over three fattening periods. The lying behavior was recorded by video analysis three times per week and three times per day. In the pens with a cooled lying area, 14% (SED 2.9; p = 0.002), respectively 12% (SED 0.9; p = 0.0382) more pigs were lying on the solid lying area. Additionally, the fouling of the animals was reduced by the cooling in one pen design; the results were derived from weekly scores (0.42 vs. 0.67; SED 0.058 p = 0.0006). The fouling of the pen was not affected by the floor cooling, however, the fouling in all pens was very low.

Monitoring the activity of animals can help with assessing their health status. We monitored the walking activity of fattening pigs using a UHF-RFID system. Four hundred fattening pigs with UHF-RFID ear tags were recorded by RFID antennas at the troughs, playing devices and drinkers during the fattening period. A minimum walking distance, or virtual walking distance, was determined for each pig per day by calculating the distances between two consecutive reading areas. This automatically calculated value was used as an activity measure and not only showed differences between the pigs but also between different fattening stages. The longer the fattening periods lasted, the less walking activity was detected. The virtual walking distance ranged between 281 m on average in the first fattening stage and about 141 m in the last fattening stage in a restricted environment. The findings are similar to other studies considering walking distances of fattening pigs, but are far less labor-intensive and time-consuming than direct observations.