Higher welfare alternatives to crating mother pigs (sows) on intensive conventional farms already exist and are commercially successful in the United States.

Higher welfare indoor systems

Welfare-Friendly Alternatives to Gestation Crates

When housed indoors breeding sows should be housed in groups in large, complex pens. Pigs have a hierarchical social structure, which can lead to aggression when mixing unfamiliar individuals in a group. When sows are grouped immediately after weaning their last litter - and before breeding, the sows can form stable, cohesive groups and reduce the likelihood of early pregnancy loss due to stress.

Aggression can also occur in groups of sows during feeding, which is a major concern in crate-free sow housing. A higher space allowance (≥32 ft2/sow) enables sows to access feeders and drinkers, lie comfortably, engage with enrichments, socialize with other sows, and move freely throughout the pen. Sufficient space also ensures sows can move away from each other, which is especially important during mixing and feeding. The pen layout in gestation crate-free housing should allow for separate areas for feeding, dunging, resting and mixing. Physical barriers, such as walls or straw bales, should be placed throughout the pen and provide cover for hiding.

Sow pens should have solid flooring with dry, clean bedding (preferably straw). Unfortunately, fully slatted floors are used in the majority of today’s sow housing due to the ease of manure management. However, fully slatted floors have a higher incidence of sow lameness. Solid flooring with ample bedding is more physically comfortable for the sows, which reduces hoof injuries and skin lesions, and also improves the sows’ thermal comfort. Straw bedding is particularly beneficial in encouraging the sows to forage, root, chew, and ingest the strafibrew, which improves the sows’ gut fill.

WELFARE-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES TO FARROWING CRATES

Concerns about the poor welfare of sows and piglets in farrowing crates have driven investment in commercial alternatives, such as free farrowing pens. Free farrowing pens provide privacy for the mother sow and her piglets while allowing the sow to move freely within a much larger space. More space allows the sow to have separate functional areas within the pen to perform different behaviors, such as nesting, dunging, feeding, and lying, allowing the pen to remain cleaner than farrowing crates. Sows are also given straw as bedding and to nest build.

In these loose pens, sows are less stressed during farrowing and lactation, allowing sows to nurse their piglets to heavier weaning weights compared to sows confined to crates. Additionally, the sloped walls in free farrowing pens allow sows to slide down into a lying position slowly and carefully, which reduces the incidence of piglet crushing.

Outdoor Systems

Breeding sows are kept outdoors (often on pasture) and are provided with huts, furnished with straw for shelter and nesting. There are no gestation or farrowing crates. At weaning, the piglets are removed from the range. The piglets will then be reared indoors or outdoors in groups, depending on the farming system.

In primarily outdoor systems, sows have a higher quality of life and can act naturally by building nests, rooting, wallowing, and foraging. The piglets benefit from the free-range conditions and a later weaning age means more time spent with their mother pigs.

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