Influence of the air temperature on the pig's behaviour associated with different housing management

Growing pigs change their behaviour, physiological responses and performance when subjected to high environmental temperatures. When confined and under heat stress tend to wallow over their own feces and urine in an attempt to decrease the body temperature. The search of animals by water basin system (water available to animals get inside and cool off), expresses the natural behaviour of same as rooting while damping body and the head, thereby enhancing the thermal comfort caused by water. Thus, the objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of the environment air temperature on the animals's search for water basin system during their growth and finishing phase in pen with access to water basin system. The 20 crossbred pigs (barrows and gilts), were accommodated in a pen with free access to water basin system. The values of the air temperature were grouped every 15 days to form a period, totaling six periods of experimental analysis. When we associate the temperature of the water of water basin system with the animal going frequency to the water we can see that the values found had no influence on the behaviour of animals, however there was a greater demand for water basin system in the warmer periods. From the data analyzed it was found that in the period where it was noted the high air temperature, the percentage of animals that sought to stay within the water basin system was greater when compared to other periods.