Sow dimensions and loose-housed farrowing pen sizes on commercial piglet-producing farms in Sweden

Abstract

International interest in loose-housed farrowing is growing and there are ongoing discussions within the European Union (EU) on new legal requirements. However, there is a lack of empirical data on loose-housed farrowing pen sizes and sow dimensions in commercial production. The aim of this study was to map and describe sow size and loose-housing farrowing pen size on commercial piglet-producing farms in Sweden. The study included 146 sows and 51 pen types on 35 medium sized to large Swedish piglet-producing farms (ranging from 106 to 1300 sows in production). Sow length ranged from 129 to 238 cm (mean ± SD 191.3 ± 19.3 cm) and sow height from 74 to 133 cm (86.7 ± 7.7 cm). Floor space occupied by the sow when lying down (length x height) ranged from 1.0 to 3.2 m2 (1.7 ± 0.3 m2). Pen length ranged from 259 to 415 cm (315.1 ± 24.3 cm), pen width from 188 to 245 cm (207.0 ± 10.7 cm), total pen area from 5.7 to 8.9 m2 (6.5 ± 0.5 m2), piglet corner area from 0.5 to 1.8 m2 (1.1 ± 0.4 m2) and area available for the sow (total area - piglet corner area) from 3.9 to 6.4 m2 (5.4 ± 0.6 m2). These results show that there is substantial variation in sow, pen and piglet corner size on commercial piglet-producing farms in Sweden. This poses a risk of mismatches between sow and pen size (pens too short in relation to sow dimensions), especially for older sows. These findings are of practical significance for animal welfare and production and emphasise the importance of designing loose-housed pens adapted to future sow, litter and piglet size.