Laura Barlow

• Bsc (Hons) Zoology
• Measuring environment enrichment adequacy in pigs for farm inspections

Current EU legislation requires that farmed pigs be given suitable manipulable materials to meet their behavioural needs, but a method for assessing this suitability in a practical situation is lacking. This project will look at the differences in behaviour between pigs given environmental enrichment of different quality, and the way in which a short term behavioural sampling can be best carried out to capture this difference in a reliable way. The outcome will be a validated measure which can be used in practical assessment of the functionality of enrichment provision, and thus facilitate improved welfare understanding and control.

Funding Source: UFAW Scholarship