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Ventilation has a large effect on barn operating costs and many aspects of the environment. Using the existing ventilation system in converted sow facilities (from stall to group housing) will lead to over-ventilation during the winter as the minimum ventilation fans are designed for higher animal densities. Cost is increased and the animals performance may be affected as they are chilled. Ventilation rates 33% higher than needed is found when...
Stall housing has received lots of criticism for being so restrictive. It has been demonstrated that sows in groups can perform as well as those in stalls, so gestation stalls are being banned in many countries. An area that needs to be studied is how mixing aggression may disrupt estrus in sows. Mixing sows at weaning (early mixing) compared to at 5 days gestation (late mixing) had no differences in...
Group housing systems can produce more active and social sows, leading to a healthier pigs. It will increase muscle strength and decrease lameness with stronger bones from the ability to move around. An example of a group housing system is free access stalls. The degree to which sows actually use the free space is not well understood. In this experiment, 95% of sows used the free space, though not for...
Sows in group housing systems maintain room temperatures between 9 to 12°C which reduces energy consumption by 78% compared to gestation rooms at a pre-set temperature of 16.5°C. Since sows can interact with each other, they have more control over their thermal environmental conditions. If a lower temperature can be used in group sow housing, costs can be decreased. Some issues with this may be higher aggression and activity levels...
When groups are formed in group housing of sows during gestation, some degree of aggression is present. This may affect farrowing weight and increases number of scratches, even though the aggression is usually short lived. Sows that were re-grouped within a few days of breeding had five experimental social treatments applied to reduce aggression levels. Out of the social treatments used, the one with the most potential was the Familiar...
Numerous consumer groups are advocating for group housing for sows due to the restriction of movement in gestation stalls. Ensuring appropriate feed levels and minimizing aggression can be challenging in group housing. Electronic sow feeders are an option for group housing as it allows one animal to eat at a time and is fed a specific amount that may vary per animal. Two social management options were examined in regard...
Housing of gestating sows is one of the more controversial aspects of pig production as they are one of the most restrictive practices in livestock production. Group housing systems may solve this problem for gestating sows with the electronic sow feeder system being investigated. From gilts to first parity to older sows, productivity increased in both electronic sow feeder and stall systems. Younger pigs performed better in stalls while older...
Electronic sow feeders (ESF) provide an automated system for controlling the individual feed intake of group-housed sows. However, this system can prompt increased aggression, especially in the initial period following mixing, as sows compete for access to the ESF. The primary objective of this research was to compare different methods for grouping sows and their effects on feeding behaviour, sow injury and production. Sows were housed in groups of mixed parity (control), or uniform groups of low...
Providing enrichment involves making changes to the environment that are intended to increase the range of normal Behaviours and improve the biological functioning and well-being of animals. Enrichment in group housing systems has the potential to significantly improve animal welfare by reducing aggression and injuries, stimulating exercise and the expression of species specific behaviours. However, when one enrichment is used continuously, habituation results and the enrichment can become less effective. Initial behavioural results indicate that regardless of the...
In this study, controlled-chamber experiments were carried out to develop an operant mechanism that allowed the sows to demonstrate their preferred environmental temperature and to study the effects of fibre addition on growth performance and physiological response. Results showed that sows fed with high heat-increment diet were able to maintain significantly lower temperatures over the 24-hr period than those fed with standard gestation diet. Performance and physiological responses of sows fed with high heat increment diet seemed...