Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Group Sow Housing Types
Group Sow Housing Types
By Kirk Brincks
Hog Slat, Inc.
February 27, 2007
Why are stalls used?
• Social hierarchy and feed consumption
• To control feed consumption to manage the
body condition of the pregnant sow
• Adjust the feed to fix a problem – too fat or too
thin
• Prevent aggression and feed hoarding
• Provide individual care to the sows
• Lower labor costs
Why are stalls used?
• 15 – 25% of the members of a sow group
are replacements and new to the social
order.
• Fighting will occur until the new pecking
order is established.
• Competing for feed. Poor management of
feed intake results in variation in body
condition.
Why groups?
• Animal welfare and public perception.
• One key requirement of the animal welfare
movement is freedom of movement.
• “Enough room to turn around freely,
groom, lie down, and stretch its limbs”
• EU, Florida, Arizona, etc.
• Smithfield Foods’ announcement.
Why groups?
• Oregon is next.
• Colorado is also being talked about.
• 15 other states plan to bring it up in their
legislation this year alone.
• This could fall quicker than expected,
• HSUS has a feather in their hat with
Smithfield announcement.
Smithfield Eliminating Small Sow Stalls
Thursday January 25, 2:58 pm ET
By Sonja Barisic, Associated Press Writer
540,000 Sow Spaces at 21 Sq. Ft. (20 sq. ft. in pen plus 1 sq. ft. aisles) 11,340,000 Sq.Ft.
540,000 Sow Spaces at 18 Sq. Ft. (14 sq. ft. in stall plus 4 sq. ft. aisles) 9,720,000 Sq.Ft.
Additional Sq. Ft. Required 1,620,000 Sq. Ft.
Number of 40 ft. X 250 ft. Gestation Buildings 162 Buildings
540,000 Sow Spaces at 25 Sq. Ft. (24 sq. ft. in pen plus 1 sq. ft. aisles) 13,500,000 Sq. Ft.
540,000 Sow Spaces at 18 Sq. Ft. (14 sq. ft. in stall plus 4 sq. ft. aisles) 9,720,000 Sq. Ft.
Additional Sq. Ft. Required 3,780,000 Sq. Ft.
Number of 40 ft. X 250 ft. Gestation Buildings 378 Buildings
Approximate Cost of Converting a
2,500 Sow Unit to Group Housing at
24 sq. ft. / Sow in Late Gestation
Before Conversion After Conversion
432 Farrowing Crates 432
2100 Breeding / Gestation Stalls 700
0 Gestation Pen Spaces 1400
Convert 1400 stall spaces to 1000 pen spaces @ $150.00 / space $150,000.00
Construct a 400 Space Pen Style Gestation Building @ $1,000.00 / space $400,000.00
Estimated Total Cost of Conversion $550,000.00
$29.00
$28.00
$22.00
Group Housing / Feeding Options
Pros:
• Record keeping and management tool (currently behind others)
• Labor saving tool
• Individual sows can be sorted for treatment
• Allows for large “dynamic” groups
• Consequences of system going down not as severe as EFS
Cons:
• Requires higher management skills
• High initial cost of equipment (AGS + trickle feeding)
• Not easily adaptable to existing facilities
• Requires insertion, removal and maintenance of RFID tags
• Limited ability to feed to condition of individual sow
Floor Feeding
• Hand feeding a small group in a pen
• By hand scooping and spreading the feed
on the solid floor
• Using mechanical systems like feed drops
• 4-5 sows per pen at 16 – 20 sq. ft. per
sow.
Floor Feeding
• Advantages
• Cost less than any other system
• Retrofits are easy
• Teaching husbandry is easier than
teaching computer science and
engineering.
Floor Feeding
• Disadvantages
• Aggressive behavior at feeding
• Dominant sow protects the largest pile
• Excessive weight gain by dominant sows
Floor Feeding
• Maxwell Foods
• 5 sows in 8’ x 10’ pens 16ft2 per sow
• Feed 2x per day – hand feed
– Sling the feed evenly on solid half of the pen
– Have used drop sow feeders on one farm and
new farms will include the drop feeders
– Used electric fences with wire under sow
drops to keep sows from messing with sow
drops
Group Housing with Hand Feeding
Floor Feeding
• Wean sows into wean stalls and breed
and they stay in there for 4-5 days
• Move them to gestation stalls to settle for
28-35 days (32 days is ideal)
• Groups are segregated by size: bigs,
mediums, smalls, gilts
Notes
• Prestage Farms
• Mark Daughtry says the trickle feed has
two advantages over floor feed
• Sow conditioning is better
• Feed Conservation is better
Notes
• Genetics will have to change
• Bedding is not likely an option for our
customers
• Slats may become an issue.
• We may have to offer all options
• Transformation stage
• Educate yourself!!!