Varied residential options for gestating sows ensured welfare and productivity

Adult sows spend more than 50% of their time in units for gestating sows. Consequently, the functionality of these facilities is important for their well-being. This project aimed to depict the well-being of loose housed gestating sows in uninsulated buildings by documenting behaviours, aggressions, stereotypical behaviours and treatments/cullings of sows. Sows were fed individually with an animal-adapted transponder technology with four eating cubicles that allowed individual feeding adjustments. Between meals, the sows could choose from occupying themselves in a tent with deep litter straw or a barn with sawdust and chopped straw. Sows weaned 13.0 ± 0.7 piglets per litter at a mean age of 31 days with a mean weight of 11.2 ± 0.9 kg. Everyday monitoring and handling of 150–160 gestating sows demanded 32 ± 12 minutes per day of the staff. Medical treatments (9%) and cullings (1%) of non-lactating sows were rare. During gestation, most of the sows preferred to stay in the tent where they mainly rested, but daytime there were always sows in the barn where they were more active. Air temperatures and humidity remained comfortable throughout the year but differed between seasons. During spring, summer and autumn, queuing in front of the eating cubicles were rare and few aggressions were recorded. The activity of the sows was lowest during summer when sows also rested individually. Sows were most active during winter when they rested and moved in groups. Consequently, queuing and interactions in front of the feeding cubicles increased. However, most of these interactions were directed to the side or rear of another sow, and not against the head. Sows ate hierarchically, old sows ate first during the day and gilts last. No stereotypic behaviour was recorded. Providing sows with varied residential options between meals and individually adjusted feeding during the gestating period ensured motion and well-being without reducing productivity and with low incidences of aggressions and medical treatments/cullings. The study also confirmed that gestating sows can be housed in uninsulated buildings during winter, if they are shielded from wind and can guard themselves from chill, e.g. by bivouacking themselves in deep litter straw.