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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Reducing Energy Use in Group Sow Housing Systems
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on November 2, 2016
Conversion of gestation sow housing from stalls to group systems has been mandated in the recently revised Canadian Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs, with all sow farms expected to adopt this practice by July 2024 (NFACC, 2014). As such, this study aimed to investigate management options that will take advantage of potential merits of group sow housing.
One such advantage may be that sows housed in groups can interact with one another and exhibit thermoregulatory behavior (e.g., huddling), thereby potentially tolerating temperatures below the lower critical temperature (LCT). This could result in reduced energy costs for heating and ventilation. Housing sows in groups can also lead to aggression among gestating sows and is aggravated by feed restriction during gestation. High fi ber (high heat-increment) diets have been reported to increase satiety and reduce aggression among sows in addition to increasing heat production of sows. The addition of fiber to the diet could be a means of addressing behavioral
issues associated with grouped-sows as well as contributing to the energy balance of sows under reduced barn temperature.