Research explores swine welfare, environmental enrichment link

There is growing consumer interest in humanely raised meat. An important factor of humanely raised animals is providing environmental enrichment for them. Environmental enrichment is improving a captive animal’s environment for their well-being and quality of life. Enrichment can be social, occupational, physical, sensory, or nutritional. For University of Saskatchewan (USask) student Abby Tillotson, the challenge of finding enrichment for swine that is both effective for swine and practical for producers, was an intriguing one. “Canadian producers are required to provide environmental enrichment to pigs on farms,” said Tillotson. “However, providing effective enrichment has proven to be difficult. This research sought to find enrichment that would be attractive to pigs while also being simple, inexpensive, and useful for producers to implement on the farm.” Tillotson will officially receive her Master of Science in Animal Science at USask Fall Convocation, taking place on November