The behavior of 37 gestating sows in different parities was observed around day 85 of pregnancy. Seventeen sows exhibited stereotypic behavior for 54.9 ± 4.8% of the 8-h observation period. The total time the sows spent standing and sitting was correlated with age (rs = 0.43, P < 0.01) and was significantly different (P < 0.001) for sows which performed stereotypic behavior S than for sows that did not N. S sows had fewer piglets born alive (P < 0.1) but mean litter weights at 3 wk (P = 0.48) did not differ from those of N sows. The time spent on stereotypic behavior within the S group, however, was positively correlated with the number of piglets born alive (rs = 0.5, P < 0.05). Results indicate that the performance of stereotypic behavior in individually housed gestating sows correlates with litter size.
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Borell et al. (1990) studied this question.