Abstract
In recent years, group housing systems for sows during pregnancy and suckling have been developed to satisfy animal requirements, particularly for movement, more fully. Less is known about the effects of these husbandry systems on the postnatal behaviour of piglets. Forty-two sows with their litters (480 piglets) from three farms were observed. During pregnancy, sows were housed in one of two different systems: group housing (GHS; N= 17 sows), or single crate housing (SHS: N= 25 ). All sows were introduced into farrowing crates 4-7 days before the expected farrowing, except for seven animals farrowed in a loose-housing system. GHS sows took significantly less time to complete farrowing than SHS ( 187 min and 244 min, respectively). However, they gave birth to fewer piglets (Mean: 10.4 per litter in GHS and 12.0 in SHS); consequently, the inter-piglet interval did not differ significantly. Mean birthweight of piglets was also higher in SHS sows than in GHS sows (1327 g and 1293 g, respectively). There was a slight, but non-significant tendency for piglets from SHS sows to obtain their first colostrum intake earlier (mean: 39.5 and
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