Sow Management and Housing What Does the Industry Think?

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on January 1, 2007

Maintaining research facilities that have the capability to meet industry needs is at the core of Prairie Swine Centre’s mandate to serve the industry with near-market research information. A significant effort by Saskatchewan Agriculture and Food to replace the ageing 1980 barns was developed with the Federal government and the result is a shared federal/provincial grant for the renovation of the gestation, breeding and farrowing facilities. The current facility will be challenged to meet the current standards of animal care expected of a research farm and the construction of the new barn will actually reduce the operating costs of the farm through improvements in energy efficiency. Labour is also reduced because all animals will be within the same building instead of being spread over 4 separate buildings and they will be automatically fed instead of hand fed. Sow management is an area of immediate concern to all pork producers who are considering what if any changes they will make to their operations in light of the announcements regarding group-housed gestating sows. In general, the industry is well aware of changes in attitude taking place within the public, the media and special interest groups regarding animal welfare in the barn. There is concern that in fact the housing and management options proposed to replace gestation stalls provide questionable welfare improvements for the animals and at the same time are considered ‘animal friendly’ by people outside the industry because the housing systems allow animals to live in groups. To address these and other research needs the new barn is being designed to accommodate studying the effect of key components of sow management, particularly those that have to do with gestation sow management and housing such as space allowance, group size and feeding. Each of these will be critical factors in developing any renovation that pork producers may wish to pursue in developing a system that ensures low cost productivity as well as embracing a group housing component.

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