Physical and behavioral indicators of animal welfare on farms using electronic sow feeders

摘要

With increasing consumer demand for crate-free pork, our industry is transitioning towards pen gestation systems yet many remain concerned for the welfare of sows outside of individual housing. Within electronic sow feeding (ESF) systems, various housing and mixing strategies exist, in part, to limit social aggression. Group composition may be kept constant throughout gestation or animals may be added and removed regularly (static vs. dynamic). Farmers may also choose to retain sows in breeding stalls until the embryo is implanted rather than move sows into groups immediately following estrus (post-implantation vs. pre-implantation). We collected physical and behavioral observations of pens and individual sows to compare the effects of static vs. dynamic housing and preimplantation vs. post-implantation mixing on sow welfare in ESF systems.