Stephanie Lacy
Farm animal welfare has recently come to the public’s attention. Many are claiming that the animals are treated cruelly and inhumanely. Much of the current focus is on confinement housing systems in poultry, swine, and veal calf production (Swanson, 1995). A confinement housing system is one in which many animals are kept in small pens in very close quarters. Systems like these have many benefits, some examples include: higher production, elimination of parasites, and a cheaper production rate. Initially they were designed for the comfort of both the pigs and their handlers during extreme weather conditions (Extension, 2001).
Farrowing crates, small pens used to house sows during the birthing and raising process of their piglets, have recently been banned in many places. Such places include the United Kingdom , the European Union, and even the states of Florida , California , Arizona , and Michigan
Common arguments for farrowing crates include: decrease in the loss of piglets and lower production costs. However, many recent studies have been conducted comparing outdoor production to indoor production in the swine industry. Many of these studies have come to the same conclusions: outdoor housing can be equally productive. The rate of loss of the piglets in outdoor housing did not exceed that of the indoor housing. The outdoor housing also allowed for social interaction which, from observations, seemed to limit the aggressiveness in the animals (Johnson et al, 2001). The indoor production systems do however enable a producer to house more sows per acre, and therefore, an outdoor production system, in order to be completely comparable, must have a method for housing more sows (Extension, 2010).
Common alternatives to farrowing crates in swine production include: turn around pens, sloped pens, family pens, werribee farrowing pens, ellipsoid farrowing crate, and the outdoor English style farrowing hut. Turn around pens are triangular shaped pens that allow the sow to turn around. Such pens have been noted to slightly reduce still births and rather significantly reduce weaning mortality. Sloped pens are pens with a sloped floor. The sloped floor forces the sow to stand and lie down more carefully and the sow often lays with her teats facing the creep area encouraging suckling. Family pens allow the sow to move further away from her piglets and also to interact with other sows all at her own will. Providing bedding would make this housing system the most sufficiently enriched environment. Werribee farrowing pens contains a nesting area and a non nesting area but takes up nearly twice the amount of floor space of the original farrowing crate. The ellipsoid farrowing crate is only slightly larger than the standard farrowing crate and provides room for the sow to turn around as well as allows more interaction between the sow and her piglets. The outdoor English style farrowing pen is the only outdoor pen in this list. While there was no significant difference in still births and weaning mortality the sows housed in the outdoor pens showed more natural activity than those in any of the indoor pens (Extension, 2010).
In conclusion, while there are still uses for the traditional style farrowing pens, the only set difference from other production styles is the number of animals per square foot. Production systems other than farrowing crates can provide the same weaning mortality rates while perhaps satisfying the public and the animal rights activists that are currently protesting.
Works Cited
Swanson, J. C. Farm Animal Well-Being and Intensive Production Systems. J Anim Sci 1995. 73:2744-2751.
Johnson, A.K., Morrow-Tesch, J.L., McGlone, J.J. Behavior and performance of lactating sows and piglets reared indoors or outdoors. J Anim Sci 2001. 79:2571-2579.
“Housing Options for Swine Farrowing: Considerations for Animal Welfare and Economics.” Extension. Extension, 2010. Web. 31 Oct 2010. <http://www.extension.org/pages/Housing_Options_for_Swine_Farrowing:_Considerations_for_Animal_Welfare_and_Economics>
“Factory Farming.” Humane Society of the United States
“Swine Farrowing Units.” Pork Industry Handbook. Pork Industry Handbook, 2010. Web. 31 Oct 2010. <http://agebb.missouri.edu/swine/pdf/PIH-10.PDF>
“EU ban on sow stalls - implications for procurement of pork and pig meat products.” Department for Eviornment, Food, and Rural Affairs. DEFRA, 2010. Web. 31 Oct 2010. <http://www.defra.gov.uk/foodfarm/policy/publicsectorfood/documents/psfpi-advice-note081222.pdf>
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