Bringing together housing, stockmanship and breeding
Loose housed sows during farrowing and lactation, this is the goal of Australian pig producer, Laurie Brosnan. This brings extra management challenges including keeping piglet mortality down.
By Vivi Aarestrup Moustsen, chief scientist, Danish Pig Research Centre and Janni Hales, product manager, Jyden
A
ustralia may not have the largest pig production in the world, but that doesn’t mean they are not taking a lead and paving the way for future pig production. In 2014 Laurie Brosnan, Bettapork, established a new 1,400 sow herd with loose
lactating sows in environmentally controlled buildings. Being located in Queensland with tropical climate conditions means that temperatures come up to around 45°C in the sum- mer and so the outside conditions are challenging. Building facilities for future pig production that ensures a high level of efficiency and productivity and at the same time encompasses high animal welfare only adds to the challenges. The farrowing shed next door to the gestating sows is com- prised of ten rooms, with 36 pens each. During farrowing and lactation sows are housed in SWAP farrowing pens from Jyden.
The pens are fully slatted with hot water heat pads in the cov- ered creep area for the piglets. Sow feeding is automatic and with a tablet in hand, the staff can easily control and adjust feed for each sow on a daily basis when they walk through the shed. Each sow is set on a specific feed curve, according to par- ity and condition, this then automatically increases the amount of feed through lactation. The sows at Bettapork are loose dur- ing farrowing and lactation because Brosnan believes that is the way to produce pigs in the future.
Stockmanship and piglet survival Management requirements are higher when sows are loose housed but Brosnan is determined to make it work and at Bettapork there is a constant focus on learning from experi- ence and to keep improving. Instead of seeing challenges and limitations when performance is not satisfactory, they focus on the possibilities and the ways forward. Willpower and good intentions are not enough to make a
PIGLETS - JULY/AUGUST 2016 41
Sows at Bettapork are loose during farrowing and lactation which means that manage- ment requirements are higher.
PHOTO: VIVI AARESTRUP
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