WelFarmers: Solutions for loose housing of lactating sows

The project has recently identified its first round of candidates under the theme “ban of cages” which spotlight opportunities and solutions in loose housing of lactating sows.

1. Cardboard Pigs: Scale-model cardboard pigs and an evaluation checklist are used to help farmers visualize and compare different loose-housed pen designs before they invest in this important, irreversible decision.

2. Easy access to piglets: This pen design for loose housed farrowing sows places the covered creep area for piglets closest to the aisle so workers can save time checking on and caring for the piglets without having to enter the pen or interfere with the sow.

3. MamaGuide: This pen equipment mounted to the floor prevents the loose sow from rolling, therefore reducing the risk of crushing piglets. Piglets can still access the udder. The MamaGuide can be installed in many existing pens.

4. Temporary confinement: The front of the creep is used to hinder the sow from turning during the first few days after farrowing to reduce piglet mortality and ensure safe working conditions for the staff who handle the piglets.

5. Farrowing pens with freedom of movement: The sow is confined during the final days of gestation until approximately five days after farrowing. The sow will then have freedom of movement during the lactation stage.

6. Free birth groups module: Sows are housed in a large group pen. To farrow, sows are enclosed into cubicles and are released two days later. The pen perimeter has a heated area with anti-crush separators for the piglets. The sows are fed in an electronic tunnel-type machine, achieving greater feed intakes than in a traditional crate.

7. Moment of opening of the temporary confinement cages in maternity: The ideal timing for the opening the sow crate post-farrowing was determined with several trials. Since many management interventions are done in the early days post-farrowing, it was difficult for the staff to open the crates on day four. After several sub-tests, it was concluded that on this farm it was best to open the crates on day eight post-farrowing.

8. My Favourite Farm: This farm uses automated feeding stations that weigh animals after eating, allowing for precise feed management during gestation. Automated systems assist with tasks like animal selection, vaccination, and tracking lost microchips. In farrowing, sows are initially confined in pens that open after four to five days. Feeding is microchip-controlled, enabling sows to eat anytime. Despite high initial costs, the system is now efficient, with just four staff managing 1,600 sows.

9. Management of free farrowing in a large unit: Clear division of work is key to managing free farrowing pens. To motivate employees, it is recommended to award bonuses tied to production figures. The free farrowing pens have been improved by adding more fingers to the sow rail to provide piglets with greater protected space.

10. Way of free farrowing: This farm uses customized free farrowing pens with a covered piglet nests where piglets can be temporarily confined for split suckling or during procedures. Sows are moved to the pen six or seven days before the expected farrowing date. The sows are never confined. Hay racks in all pens provide nesting material. Special ventilation is directed from celling to floor for sow comfort.

11. Optimizing the farrowing unit for the well-being of sows, piglets and farmers: This design facilitates staff work and contact with the animals. Multiple aisles in the farrowing room allow for moving animals and access to troughs and nests. Thanks to the location of the feed and water circuits, a robot can be used to clean the rooms. Each piglet nest is temperature-regulated. The farmer tames sows at an early age by handfeeding them in quarantine, passing through the gestation group several times daily, and stroking the sows when they are close.

12. Reconciling the safety of piglets and the freedom of sows in the farrowing rooms: This farm uses a lift system when the sow is restrained which benefits the piglets, eases work for the farmer, and eliminates the need for night supervision during farrowing. The lift is activated three days after arriving and deactivated three days before the sows are released. Once freed, the sows can move around easily in the pen. The animals are calm and easy to handle.

13. Free access stalls: Farrowing sows are mostly kept free with piglets, with only limited crate confinement. Rubber hanging toys are provided for sows in pens. When the crate is open at an angle for sows the piglets still have a designated area.

14. Loose lactation & piglet commingling: Farrowing crates are opened after seven days to give sows more space while minimizing piglet mortality. Piglets begin co-mingling at 20 days of age and are weaned at 28 days. This timing allows piglets to form social hierarchies and adapt to group living while they are still with their dams, reducing stress at weaning. If piglets start to co-mingle after day 20 it can result in sows beginning to cycle while lactating, with resultant sub-fertile heats.

15. Loose Lactation System – 1st in Ireland: The sows are moved into the farrowing house five days before farrowing and are offered straw or shredded paper. When staff notice nest building behaviors, the sows are enclosed in the crate to begin farrowing where they remain enclosed until three days post-farrowing to reduce piglet mortality. The farm has noted an increase in colostrum and higher weaning weights compared to when the crates are kept closed.

16. SunPork close confinement free breeding sow management – AUS: A farrowing house was built with Maternity Rings, a new free farrowing system developed to be cost comparable to a farrowing crate and can be retrofitted within an existing barn. The sow is not confined before, during, or after farrowing. The design meets the sow and piglets’ environmental needs and provides safe working conditions for staff.

17. Cage-free farrowing pen: One of the rooms was completely refurbished by removing the original 16 farrowing pens with cages and replacing them with nine cage-free farrowing pens.

18. Enhancing the piglets’ nest to promote greater utilization and reduce crush events: Sows are confined for the first seven days post-farrowing to reduce mortality due to crushing. To promote greater utilization of the piglet nest, the method of heating the heated plate was modified to maintain a constant high temperature and a heating lamp was added inside the nest.

19. Farrowing in the dark: A housing system suitable for organic production was developed for farrowing sows. The outdoor farrowing hut was coupled with a small outdoor run with a concrete, partially slatted floor. Sows tend to farrow in the dark side where they stay for a least eight days, while defecating outside. The hut is equipped with anti-crush rails on the vertical panels.

20. WELLBM: The adoption of the free farrowing system has reduced the culling rate of sows due to joint issues and shoulder ulcers. Sow-piglet interaction has improved, with positive effects on piglet weaning weights.

21. Free lactating sows: Farrowing pens are opened between days 8 and 10 post-farrowing. Individual sows are regularly assessed for behavioral traits and calmer individuals are granted earlier access to the loose housing area. This targeted approach has contributed to smoother transitions and enhanced welfare outcomes.

22. Group Gestation soon after AI: Sows are released from individual housing three days post-artificial insemination and kept in stable groups until farrowing. Earlier socialization post-AI has significantly improved the animals’ transition to free farrowing pens, resulting in reduced aggression, easier handling, and an overall more manageable group dynamic.

23. Querido Group – “Loose Lactating Sows”: This system facilitates voluntary movement of sows in and out of pens without the need for direct human contact, while enabling low-stress separation of piglets with minimal aggression or injury. The system design ensures sows have easy access to feed and water, contributing to improved hygiene, reduced waste, and better resource efficiency. Piglet nests are equipped with secure safety gates, which allow safe temporary confinement during handling.

24. Uncaged sows: The farrowing pen is large enough to place and remove the crate whenever restrain is necessary. For gilts, the crate is kept longer if there are signs of savaging intentions after farrowing. Straw is provided constantly in the crate area. The pen is surrounded with wooden walls in the first five days of lactation which are then removed so piglets can move freely in the entire pen.

25. Fully free farrowing pen: This fully free farrowing pen uses straw bedding. The main risk is piglet crushing in the first three days after farrowing. Many backyard farmers are using this farrowing pen model with different sizes.

26. Uncaged sows – all stage area: This system works as a mating, gestation, and farrowing pen and the sow will spend all these phases in the same setting. This makes the job easy as the dirty area (chosen by the sow) just needs to be cleaned once a day and to add straw or hay as necessary.

27. Temporary confined sows: This kind of farrowing pen is widely used by backyard pig producers in Romania as is easy to set up and to manage. The temporary crate has a fixed location for the restraining period (bolts in the floor). When piglets are 5-8 days old the crate is completely removed, washed, and disinfected to be prepared to be used for the next farrowing.