Research needed into partying pigs

06 April 1998

Research needed into partying pigs

PIGS like to party at night when the farmer has gone to bed, according to researchers who installed electronic monitors on water dispensers and feeding troughs in artificially-lit pig sheds.

The researchers, at Farmex, the farm animal environment specialists, in Reading, Berkshire, found that instead of settling down for the night the pigs started eating, drinking and having fun until midnight before winding down in the small hours.

Now they want to carry out more studies to find out if party pigs grow more quickly or more slowly than their sleepier counterparts who are kept in natural light. Breeding performance could also be affected, they say.

• The Daily Telegraph 06/04/98 page 3