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Thüringer Ministerium für Infrastruktur und Landwirtschaft
Thuringia
Werner-Seelenbinder-Str. 8
99096 Erfurt
Website: External link to the authority
Testing of a method for the alternative keeping of sows in the farrowing area compared to conventional standard methods
In the farrowing sector, piglet-bearing sows are usually kept in the piglet protection cage in oder to keep the maternal-relatet piglet mortality as low as possible. With movement pens, significant changes have been made in this section, which offer the sows in particular significantly more housing comfort. This gives the sows free movement after the sensitive phase of birth and at the same time ensures a high level of protection for the newborn piglets. With the processing of the innovation project the effect of the attitude of sows in movement pens opposite the attitude in closed piglet protection cages on measurable criteria of the animal well-being, the animal health and the rearing achivement of the sows is to be seized and represented. This will enable reliable results to be obtained for the implementation and transfer of these husbandry methods into broad-based agricultural sow farming, which are based on farm trials under practical farm conditions.
Objective of the project was to test the newly established movement pens under practical conditions over several farrowing groups in different applications (movement pens are opened on the 5th day after farrowing or movement pens are used as piglet protection cages until the end of suckling season). The biological performance, animal health and welfare indicators as well as the working economy were recorded, supplemented by records of behaviour.
The operational tests - comparison of the piglet protection cage closed and the opend from the fifth day - showed that the sows which were kept in the open farrowing pens had significantly higher piglet losses due to crushing compared to the keeping method in closed piglet protection cages. There are still unanswered questions and the need for optimization of the housing practice (e.g. constructive design of the movement pens). The necessary adjustments to the pens will be checked in a follow-up project in 2021 and 2022.
Rural development 2014-2020 for Operational Groups (in the sense of Art 56 of Reg.1305/2013)
Agrarprodukte Bernsgrün-Hohndorf eG
Triftweg 1
07937 Zeulenroda-Triebes
Phone: +49 (0) 37431 3426
Email: agrar-oberland@t-online.de
2019
completed
49,246
2018 LFE 0010
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