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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
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Seeking the best flooring slat and gap widths for sow comfort and manure handling
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on August 11, 2016
Author: Christine Rawluk
Reference: Western Hog Journal Summer 2016
Current industry standards are moving to group housing for sow. However, little is knows in regards to the proper gap and slat width to optimize both comfort of sows and manure management. Researchers at the National Centre for Livestock and the Environment at the University of Manitoba are currently researching the optimal slat configuration. The study consists of two phases. Phase one is a kinematics analysis of sows walking over different configurations of slat gap sizes. Phase two is a scaling-up test conducted in a swine barn.
Kinematics is the analysis of motion and gait. Large lame sows and small non-lame sows were walked along a corridor with varying slat and gap widths. Slat width were either 3, 4, or 5 inches and gap widths were 3/4, 7/8, or 1 inch. Sows were walked along the corridor with slats either parallel or perpendicular to the direction of motion, and this gait was compared to a control of a solid concrete floor. The direction and size of slats and gaps did not affect the gait of large sows. However, small non-lame sows were affected, especially when walking parallel to the direction of gaps. It was concluded that the configuration that altered gait the least was slat width of 4 inches and gap width of 3/4 inches.
Phase two is currently being tested. Two groups of bred gilts are being evaluated over two gestation periods. One group is using the slat configuration deemed best by the kinematics study, and one group is using the industry standard slats with 5 inch slat widths and 1 inch gap widths. Sows will be evaluated for development of lameness, uneven weight distribution, activity level, lying comfort and use of space within the pen. To evaluate manure management, variables tested include pen cleanliness, percentage of manure covering the floor, percentage of gaps plugged, and air tests of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide levels.