Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

There is currently an increased interest in loose housed farrowing environments internationally. Discussions are being held within the EU whether new requirements should be placed on pig farmers, and whether a total ban on confining sows should be introduced. An opinion that prevails in the pig breeding industry is that the sows, the litters, and the piglets are getting bigger and that this creates problems in animal husbandry. There is a lack of empirical data on both loose housed farrowing pen sizes and design, as well as on sow sizes. The aim of this thesis was to map and describe the sow sizes and the loose house farrowing pen sizes in commercial piglet producing herds in Sweden. This thesis include data from 35 medium-sized Swedish piglet producing farms, collected from July 2022 to September 2023. In total 153 sows, 51 types of farrowing pens and 35 piglet corners were measured. The results show that there is a wide range of sow sizes and farrowing pen sizes. Moreover, it shows the difficulty in designing a pen that works for all sow sizes, litter sizes and piglet sizes from farrowing to weaning, and the need for further research on the needs of the sows and her piglets.