Abstract:
Proper management of pregnant sows supports the welfare and health of both the sow and her
neonatal piglets. However, negative farmer attitudes toward sow welfare often led to a poor
human-animal relationship, resulting in reduced humane management practices. In this study,
farmers’ attitudes towards key practices in pregnant sow management and welfare were
assessed using a questionnaire in a face-to-face interview with fifty-eight swine farmers, covering
all 13 veterinary divisions of Gampaha District. Attitudes of farmers were tested using a five-point
Likert scale. Data were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 23.0. The majority of farmers
were Catholic/Christian (83%) and 76% were fully engaged in small-scale, pig farming, managing
50 pigs or less. Overall, 44% of the farmers had over 20 years of experience in swine farming and
76% were aware of the term “animal welfare”. All farmers agreed that sow should handle with
more care during pregnancy. In overall, 93% farmers provided farrowing pen and 98% agreed
on protecting sow from rain and sharp sunlight. Identified critical risk factors affecting the
welfare of pregnant sows included uncertainty (24%) and disagreement (15%) regarding the
facilitation of natural behaviors, disagreement (21%) over the provision of comfortable lying
substrates and uncertainty (53%) on whether farrowing is painful, while 35% believed it is not.
Moreover, 55% of farmers perceived pigs as greedy and smelly animals, while 67% believed that
pigs are not emotional. In pregnant sow management: feeding swill feed (79%), lack of feeding
concentrates (22%), lack of immediate treatments in poor health or injury (17%), and lack of
provision of bedding material (36%) were identified as key welfare issues. Farmers’ experience
did not affect the tested negative attitudes toward pigs (smelly, greedy, unpleasant) and no
correlation was found with the involvement (full time/part time) or the level of farming
satisfaction (P>0.05). Further improvement in positive welfare attitudes of swine farmers
toward pregnant sow management in the studied district is suggested.
