Pigs are highly motivated for exploring. When commercially kept pigs are unable to satisfy their need for performing this behaviour, it can be detrimental for both animal welfare and farm economy.
Despite the pig’s highly developed sense of smell, the potential to use odours as enrichment tools in modern pig production has only received very little attention. This project aims to investigate the potential of using odours to optimize current enrichment strategies and thereby improve animal welfare alongside farm economy.
Project leader: Maria Vilain Rørvang, BT, SLU
Project partners: Birte L. Nielsen, The Universities Federation for Animal Welfare (UFAW), UK and Anna Valros, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland and Anna Wallenbeck, Dept. Animal Environment and Health, SLU, Dr Sarah-Lina Aagaard Schild, Innovation Center for Organic Farming, Denmark
Funding: Formas
Period: 2021-2024 (3 years)