Walk-in/lock-in stalls (also known as free access stalls) are a
group housing system that provides sows with individual feeding
protection, with the ability for sows to also freely enter or leave
the stalls to loaf in a communal “free space” area. Walk-in/lock-in
stalls are a very flexible system that is relatively easy to manage
compared to other group housing systems, but a common finding
is that many sows tend to remain in the stalls, and thus do not gain
the benefits associated with group housing. This study investigated
whether the addition of rubber mats to the free space area of two
pen configurations would increase the amount of time that sows
spend in this area. A second objective of the study was to examine
the effects of grouping high and low parity sows separately, to
determine if this would result in the increased use of the free space
area by younger, lower parity sows. Results show that in the I-pen
configuration, both ‘young’ and ‘old’ sow groups spent significantly
more time in the areas with rubber flooring than concrete flooring
(P<0.05), while in the T-pens, only the young group increased their
use of the free space area when rubber flooring was applied. Sow
body posture on the rubber flooring indicated an increase in sow
comfort, with a greater amount of lateral lying observed.