A Commercially-Available Activity Monitor Attached to the Ear Tag Detects Swine Oral-Nasal-Facial Behaviors

Automated behavior data collection may help swine producers make better management choices about their herds. The objective of the first experiment was to determine if a commercially available activity monitor (Fitbit Zip^TM Wireless activity monitor, San Francisco, CA) attached to a pig’s ear tag could measure duration of locomotion activity (LOCO; voluntary movements that displace the whole body) in 6 mo old boars (Yucatan^TM; Sinclair Bioresources). Two trained observers used specialized software (Observer 11.5 XT; Noldus, Leesburg, VA) to code for LOCO-duration of 3 pigs wearing activity monitors for two, 12 h daylight periods. Activity monitor data were summarized at 1- and 5-min intervals using an added software package (Small Steps Labs, LLC, San Diego, CA). In addition, automated- and video-data were converted to a binary system (0 < 1 sec activity; 1 > 1 sec activity). Pearson’s correlation and Chi Square were used for data analysis in SAS. Activity monitor data were not correlated with video-data coded for LOCO-duration (R² = 0.14; P = 0.87). After data were converted to binary codes, there was an 80.23% agreement at 1-min intervals and 97.11 % agreement at 5-min intervals between activity monitor and LOCO data (P < 0.01). The second objective was to determine if activity monitors would detect oral-nasal-facial (ONF) behaviors. Six, 15-minute videos were identified for high, medium, and low activity. One trained observer who was blinded to the activity data and the objective 1 findings, coded for ONF-duration and LOCO-frequency (count of hind leg steps). The ONF-duration and activity monitor data were correlated (R² = 0.60 ; P < 0.01). Although the activity monitor attached to the ear tag did not accurately detect LOCO-duration, this study confirmed that it does detect movement (yes or no response) and ONF. Healthy pigs spend much or their active time performing ONF behaviors. If the animal is sick or stressed, the expression of ONF may change. Therefore, low-cost activity monitors placed on the ear tag may be used to monitor ONF automatically to determine the health and welfare of pigs.