Investigation on some wood materials and their use as environmental enrichment in post-weaning and fattening pigs

The features of the manipulable usable materials and their possible applications in farming have been examined in details. Field trials carried out with pigs in post-weaning and growing phases showed that: wood sawdust pressed briquettes are not suitable in the post-weaning phase both for environmental reasons (excessive moisture in the pen) and for an overconsumption of the material; the system with log placed horizontally (in such a way that the animal can rotate it) and the system with fixed vertical log result the most attractive among the several devices tested in post-weaning phase; the wall grid containing logs of poplar timber to raise with the snout, to spin and to bite seems to be the most desirable device during the growing-fattening phase. In general, a decreasing interest has been evidenced over time for all systems.