Sow and piglet productivity and sow reproductive performance in farrowing pens with temporary crating or farrowing crates on a commercial New Zealand pig farm

The use of a pen during lactation provides sows with more space so they can turn around freely. They are an alternative to the physically and behaviourally more restrictive farrowing crates. Previous studies have compared data from multiple pork production units using different farrowing accommodation types. This study was carried out on one commercial pig farm using two lactation systems. The objective was to examine the effect that the accommodation (pens with temporary crating until 4 days postpartum, or farrowing crates for the duration of lactation) had on the productivity of sows and piglets. Performance data was obtained from 394 sows (4706 live born piglets) in combination pens, and 338 sows (3987 live born piglets) in crates over 14 farrowing batches. Pre-weaning piglet mortality (PWM%) was significantly higher in the pen system (10.23%) than in the crate system (6.10%) (P<0.0001). Penned sows were released from the temporary crate on the fourth day of lactation. A greater proportion of piglets died in the combination pens (38.8%) than in the crates (30.43%) during the period extending from the fourth day of lactation until weaning (P<0.0001). Total pigs weaned per litter differed (P=0.0024) between pen (10.54 +/- 0.052) and crate systems (10.76 +/- 0.065). The accommodation in which a sow farrowed and lactated had no significant effect on subsequent reproductive performance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.