Either purebred German Substantial White (DE) dams or dam lines from the breeding firms Topigs,

Either purebred German Substantial White (DE) dams or dam lines from the breeding firms Topigs, JSR, Hypor and H senberger (genetically based on Big White Landrace crosses). The weaned castrated and uncastrated piglets have been raised collectively in bigger 25-Hydroxycholesterol Autophagy groups at specialised farrowing farms, or in 1 case at the farrow-to-finish farm. Before and after the transfer to the finishing farms (at about 30 kg LW), the groups have been split, but formerly unknown pigs under no circumstances joined a group. The pigs had been weighed when moving to the fattening unit and when the initial pigs of that batch reached slaughter age (at 181 36 days). The average daily weight acquire and the homogeneity (variation coefficients of weight) per group had been calculated on basis of the second weighing. Boar groups have been either placed beside pens with barrows or male pigs only (25 groups) or beside pens with female pigs (gilts), which they could get in touch with via the dividing bars (18 groups). Besides the pens using the monitored groups, every farm had a further 6 to ten pens with gilts and barrows. For the distribution of gender, genetic lines and female contact per farm, see the Supplementary Material (Table S1). The pigs were fed 3 instances a day. The housing situations complied together with the EU regulations on organic farming [19,20] and are described in Table 1.Table 1. Selected housing and management situations from the 5 investigated farms. Group Size a Median (Min ax) 24 (206) ten (61) 17 (140) 12 (92) 15 (137) Space Allowance a (m2 pig-1 ) 2.4.1 2.8.2 2.three.3 two.three.1 two.three.0 Feeding Space (m2 pig-1 ) 0.38.50 0.36.67 0.30.43 0.33.44 0.29.38 Feeding System Liquid-feed, long-AR-13324 MedChemExpress trough Dry feed, long trough Wet-dry feed c , extended trough Dry feed, extended trough Dry feed, extended trough d Straw Supply b (Bedding Depth) moderate ample ample sparse moderateFarm No.Drinker1 2 three 4anipple bowl nipple with trough nipple nippleGiven will be the initial group sizes and space allowances per group, that were additional reduced through the fattening cycle by sporadic losses and split advertising and marketing; b depth of bedding typical for the farm (ample: 20 cm within the lying and activity locations; moderate: 50 cm within the lying region and 5 cm in the activity area; sparse: five cm in the lying and activity areas); c porridge-like feed: dry feed mixed with water within the feeding trough directly just before consumption; d the boar group in the 4th fattening cycle was fed using a wet-dry feeder.All pens had solid (concrete) floors, covered with straw beddings of varying quantity (Table 1), and have been structuredinto lying, feeding, activity and defecation places in distinct methods (Figure 1). The outside runs also had solid floors and had been roofed in varying propor-Animals 2021, 11, x4 ofAnimals 2021, 11,All pens had strong (concrete) floors, covered with straw beddings of varying quantity four of 19 (Table 1), and were structuredinto lying, feeding, activity and defecation places in various ways (Figure 1). The outside runs also had strong floors and have been roofed in varying proportions. The boar and manage groups were housed in comparable pens, and their assignment tions. The boar and fattening cycles. was reversed in between control groups have been housed in comparable pens, and their assignment was reversed among fattening cycles.Farm 1 (ca. 24 pigs) Farm 2 (ca. ten pigs) Farm three (ca. 17 pigs) Farm 4 (ca. 12 pigs) Farm five (ca. 15 pigs)area with straw lying location outside area region with slightly raised floor (step of 0.25.three m) floor with slope feeding trough drinker (1 nipples or 1 bowl)plasti.