Page 3 of articles about farrowing room in Articles

Although dispersion in the farrowing quarters is decisive in the final dispersion, we can take steps to correct some of this dispersion in the nursery.

Finding alternatives to reduce the number of nurse sows by maximising the number of suckling piglets per sow.

We can predict a sow's production based on the number of piglets born alive at first farrowing. In addition, the best sows' performance will outdo the others' continuously.

The use of milk replacers is helpful, both to increase the number of weaned piglets and to simplify the management of nurse sows.

This trick consists in creating a nest using the crates back corridor.

The objective of supplementing piglets with creep feeds is to reduce the number of under-developed animals during the first days after weaning and, albeit with some differences, it is beneficial for both 21-day and 28-day lactations.

Wrap the sow's card in a clear plastic bag and write down the data with a thick marker

The goal is to record the sows' feeding level when fed manually.

The goal is to know the production stage of gestating sows in a quick and visual way.

The most productive farms are not always the best. We must also bear in mind the weaned piglet's weight and the sow's feed intake.

The trick consists in selecting the appropriate foster sows and marking them on the back with the maximum number of pigs that they can take care of.

This system does not provide an improvement in the production data, but a saving in energy costs and a better use of the resources in general.

The use of these nests help create two well-differentiated areas: a warmer one for the piglets and a cooler one for the sows.

It is very important that all the staff on the farm can know quickly what is going on in the farrowing quarters, because in this way everybody will be able to carry out the daily duties in this area.

Different systems allow the sows to eat several times a day. In some of them we are the ones who decide, in other ones it is the sows.

It is common to see that there are many farms on which the gestation of the sows entered in the farrowing quarters is not correctly managed. How much space / batch would be losing a farm that enters systematically a 10% of sows / batch one week before than the appropriate date?