Effect of One Form of Exercise on the Body Development in Pigs

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Abstract
An experiment was carried out with 64 pigs to study the effect of exercise on body development. During the fattening period (20–90 kg.) the pigs were divided into two groups, a training group and a control group. The training was effectuated by placing the crib 40–75 cm. above the floor, thus forcing the pigs to rise up on their hind legs in order to reach the feed, their forelegs resting on a footboard. When the animals were standing in this position, the weight on the hind legs increased about 50%. No significant difference in muscle development between the two groups was observed. For some characters connected with muscle development there was a slight but non-significant difference in favor of the training group. Possibly a more intensive training, for instance feeding many times a day, would have given a wider difference between the groups. On the other hand, the training resulted in a significant decrease in the length of some metatarsal and phalanx bones measured.