Abstract
The aim was to evaluate the presence of abnormal behaviour in farmed Swedish female mink. Stereotypic behaviour and fur chewing was recorded in 19 farms, including 2843 mink (stereotypies) versus 2803 mink (fur chewing). Behaviour observations were performed during two hours before feeding (starting two hours before the feed machine was started) and two hours after feeding (starting one hour after feeding). One-zero sampling was used with an interval of 10 second and each mink was observed four times each period. Overall, 22% of the mink showed stereotypic behaviour, but there were large differences between farms from three to 76 animals. The presence of stereotypic behaviour did not increase with date of visit. Overall, 36% of the mink showed any form of fur chewing. Severe (> two cm or bald tip of tail) fur chewing was observed in 14% of these. Also, in this case farm differences seemed to be the main explaining factor. No relation to date of visit was found. According to the large differences in management and occurrence of abnormal behaviour future studies should focus on standardised observation procedures and identifying features in farm management that should changed in order to decrease stereotypic behaviour and fur chewing.
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© 2012 Wageningen Academic Publishers The Netherlands
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Olofsson, L., Lidfors, L. (2012). Abnormal behaviour in Swedish farm mink during winter. In: Larsen, P.F., et al. Proceedings of the Xth International Scientific Congress in fur animal production. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-760-8_62
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-760-8_62
Publisher Name: Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen
Online ISBN: 978-90-8686-760-8
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