Stress

Young animals, piglets in particular, experience several types of stress:

• environmental stress – caused by a radical change in living conditions accompanied by combining piglets from different litters,
• social stress – caused by separation from the sow and fighting for dominance in a new environment,
• nutritional stress – caused by the lack of sow’s milk supplying piglets with antibodies, and the transition to solid feed,
• thermal stress – occurs in animals kept in facilities with an elevated temperature and inadequate zoohygienic conditions.

Thermal stress reduces the animals’ feed intake, which extends the fattening stage. Prolonged stress can lead to animal death.