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Behaviour and production of sows in an open pen farrowing system: effects of pen width

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

J.N. Marchant
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK ADAS Terrington, Terrington St. Clement, King's Lynn, Norfolk, PE34 4PW, UK
D.M. Broom
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK
S. Coming
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ES, UK
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Extract

A number of studies have been carried out on open pen farrowing systems and where these systems have appeared to function well, the minimum pen dimension has been 2.2m. The original pen system at ADAS Terrington had a maximum width of about 1.5m - the space occupied by a pen with a farrowing crate. The aim of this experiment was to determine whether increasing the pen width affected sow behaviour and production in a three-sow group farrowing system.

A total of 36 LW x Landrace sows of similar genetic stock (PIC, Abingdon, UK) and ranging from 1st to 7th parity were studied from 7 days before farrowing until 7 days after farrowing. The farrowing systems comprised three individual strawed pens, a communal passageway and an outdoor dunging area. Each pen had a heated creep at the rear and sloping walls along the sides of the pen with a piglet escape area at the bottom. Four replicates of 3 sows were studied in the Narrow Pen (width = 1.6m) treatment and eight replicates of 3 sows were studied in the Wide Pen (width = 2.4m) treatment.

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Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1998

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