6.4.2 – Farrowing hut design for sow and piglet welfare

Rearing of pigs under extensive outdoor conditions have a great potential to improve animal welfare through facilitating the expression of natural behavior related to highly prioritized behavioral needs. At the same time, they are being exposed to a much more complex and diverse environment not least in terms of climatic conditions, where particularly the time of birth is a vulnerable period. The use of modern prolific breeding contributes further to the vulnerability due to increased risk of birth complication, more intra-litter competition and lower birth weight of pigs. Although a major part of early death is ultimately caused by crushing, a complex of low birth weight, birth induced hypothermia and lack of sufficient ingestion of colostrum significantly contribute to low viability of the pigs and thus ultimately an increased risk of being crushed. As outdoor reared pigs in contrast to conventionally reared pigs are born by loose sows, small unviable pigs are at higher risk of being crushed early by the sow. Therefore, to achieve the foreseen benefits of outdoor rearing for animal welfare it is important to focus on both genetic adaptation and improved hut/shelters during farrowing and lactation. Both levers must facilitate high animal welfare and maternal care, while at the same time ensure that pigs can seek shelter from extreme weather conditions (extreme temperature, draft, humidity and precipitation) and that the human staff have proper working conditions allowing for daily routine work as well as proper supervision.

Papers

• Sows and piglets adjust their use of an outdoor paddock with season and piglet age during the first weeks of life in an organic farm; Jahoui, A. et al. – Applied Animal Behavior Science – Vol 276 – 2024
• Improving thermal condition for neonatal pigs in outdoor organic system; Malmkvist et al. (manuscript in progress)
• Neonatal crushing and sow pre-lying behavior; Malmkvist et al. (manuscript in progress)

Presentations

• Dealing with the challenge of early-life piglet hypothermia during the keeping of outdoor farrowing sows – ISAE 2022 conference – Ohrid – 4-8 September 2022
• Improving piglet robustness through genetics and farrowing housing – Video – PDF – PPILOW Autumn school – Assisi – 25-27 October 2023

Video

• Danish National Workshop Free-range keeping of sows – Video – Brønderslev – 22-23 April 2024
• Vangaard’s presentation video