Split pens help timid pigs

LOW SOCIAL status pigs reared in enriched environments cope better with competition for feed and were less timid of new surroundings, says the Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland.

Researcher Niamh O’Connell says there is no quick fix to aggression in pigs because they develop dominant relationships.

But a complex pen split into areas for sleeping, feeding and rooting gave them a choice of where they wanted to be.