Doing what seems natural doesn’t work for moving pigs.
That’s because what’s natural for humans doesn’t seem natural to pigs being moved by humans.
“We mess them up,” said Nancy Lidster of DNL Farms of White Fox, Sask.
“We increase intensity rather than backing off.”
Lidster said pig handlers are often vexed and frustrated by ill behaving pigs that don’t seem to want to move.
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In the past, the prod was used as a tool but today blocking boards and noise are often used to encourage pigs to go the direction the handler wants.
When a handler finds the pigs bunching up or stopping midway, he will often try to make the pigs feel uncomfortable near him so that they will go the other way.
But that reveals a fundamental flaw of human thinking about pigs. Pressure on the group won’t make individuals in the herd want to run the other way.
Instead, the pigs will want to get into the middle of their herd, even if beside the handler.
“They’re looking for safety … Safety is back there with the bunch,” said Lidster. “Their safety is by not moving.”
Lidster said handlers need to lower the pressure when moving pigs so that the dynamic pigs in the herd can voluntarily lead the others in the direction the handler wants. If the leaders go in a certain direction, the others will follow. It’s the role of the handler to follow but not to push because that will backfire.
“Anytime we see them scrambling, we can back off,” said Lidster.
When pigs feel pressure, they not only bunch, but also begin circling to stay away from the handler, stop so that they can hear better and twist so they can see what the handler is doing.
All of these things stop the pigs moving forward.
Lidster shows a pair of handlers moving weanlings along an aisle, and any time the piglet slowed, the humans would yell and shake bottles of coins to encourage them to move the other way.
“The very thing these folks are doing to try to make these little guys run away is exactly what it’s taking to make them bunch up,” said Lidster.
She said it’s important to understand that taking pressure off a herd animal makes it more likely to go in the desired direction.
“Getting them to flow, to move easily, they have to be calm. They have to feel safe.”
