Collective housing at different gestational ages in female pigs
Welfare, swine, gestation
World pig farms are undergoing changes to meet popular pressures for better welfare conditions. Most of the criticisms about the welfare of pregnant sows in terms of injuries and illnesses are related to housing. The project aims to evaluate zootechnical indexes in swine females that are regrouped in collective stalls at different gestational ages and well being. Two different treatments will be analyzed on the farm. The first will be the treatment that after termination of the inseminations and termination of estrus the females will be in the individual pits for 35 days and the second treatment the females will be regrouped in collective pits the same day after the end of the estrus and consequently of the inseminations. After the delivery of the females will be collected the information of the number of total births and the rate of calving of the lot, these indicators being zootechnical. For the analysis and collection of information on the welfare of the housed females, visual observations will be made on indicators that determine their well-being. For this purpose the protocol of evaluation of sows and piglets of the project Welfare Quality will be applied. The work developed seeks to reconcile productivity and animal welfare in a non-exclusive way to producers who do not present resources for technology investments in pig farms.