Performance of a Swedish deep-bedded feeder pig production system in Iowa

Transcription

1 Performance of a Swedish deep-bedded feeder pig production system in Iowa M. S. Honeyman and D. Kent, Iowa State University, Ames Journal paper No. J of the Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station, Ames, IA. Project No. 3142, supported by resources from the Hatch Act, the State of Iowa, the USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development. M. S. Honeyman is Associate Professor, Department of Animal Science, and Coordinator of Research and Demonstration Farms, Iowa State University, Ames, IA and D. Kent is Superintendent of the ISU Lauren Christian Swine Research Farm, Atlantic, IA Corresponding author is M.S. Honeyman (honeyman@iastate.edu). Abstract. At the Iowa State University Armstrong Farm in southwest Iowa, a Swedish feeder pig production system was studied and demonstrated for 2 1/2 years. The system relied on bedding, simple buildings, and intensive management. The system was designed to minimize pig stress and the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics in the feed. Gestating and breeding sows were group housed in a hooped structure with individual feeding stalls. Large round bales of cornstalks were used for bedding. Farrowing, lactation, and nursery phases were housed in a remodeled hog house. Cubicles with rollers and oat straw bedding were used for farrowing. Two groups of Yorkshire x Landrace sows bred to Hampshire boars produced feeder pigs in the system. Conception rates averaged 95%, and litter size averaged 11.3 live pigs/litter. Sows were allowed to select their own bedded farrowing cubicle. Prewean pig mortality, mostly from crushing, was high (29%), occurring primarily in the first 3 days. At 2 weeks of age the cubicles were removed and group lactation occurred. After group lactation the average pig weaning weight was 10.4 kg at 33.9 days of age. At weaning the sows were removed, and the pigs remained in the bedded farrowing/lactation room for 24 additional days. The pigs weighed 24.8 kg at 60 days of age, and overall nursery phase average daily weight gain was 549 g/day. Overall pig health was excellent with no major clinical diseases confirmed. The demonstration exceeded reproductive performance measures of typical small- and midsized Iowa farms. Honeyman and Kent p. 1

2 Keywords: alternative swine production, livestock bedding, sustainable livestock systems, swine housing Introduction With strong animal welfare laws and a ban on the use of subtherapeutic antibiotics, Swedish pig farmers with supporting research by animal ethologists (Jensen, 1988; Algers, 1991) have developed a management-intensive system of pig (Sus scrofa) production that relies on straw, the pigs natural behavior, group housing dynamics, and keen husbandry skills. Farrowing and gestating crates are not allowed. Called Västgötmodellen after the region in western Sweden where farmers developed it during the 1980s, the system is used on approximately 100 farms in Sweden (Halverson, 1991a, 1991b, 1994). It is designed to produce 25-kg feeder pigs for feeding in conventional Europeanstyle finishing units. One version features deep-bedding, group-housed gestating sows, farrowing cubicles, and group lactation (Halverson and Honeyman, 1997a). Because of the dramatic contrast the deep-bedded Swedish system represents in comparison with conventional U.S. swine production (Honeyman, 1995), this project was designed to demonstrate and document the performance of the deep-bedded Swedish system in Iowa. Materials and Methods Description of the system The Swedish system demonstrated is known as the Thorstensson version of Västgötmodellen as documented by Algers (1991), Halverson (1991a, 1991b, 1994), Halverson and Honeyman (1997a), and Honeyman (1995). The underlying concept is that by using knowledge of the pigs natural behavior, the production system is designed to fit the pig, and efficiencies are achieved by minimizing stress on the pig. The system is described in detail by Halverson and Honeyman (1997b). The system (Fig. 1) uses group housing of sows in deep straw during breeding and gestation (2.5 m 2 per sow). During gestation the sows are fed daily in individual feeding stalls with rear gates that the farmer closes after the sows have entered the stalls. The stalls also have front access gates that open into the feeding alley. The stalls allow individual sow management: individual feeding, control for vaccinations and artificial insemination (AI), and easy sorting. The group housing helps stimulate estrus. Fighting is minimized by using feeding stalls and introducing new sows to the groups at optimum times, such as at farrowing. Honeyman and Kent p. 2

3 The pregnant sows are moved from the gestation area to a lactation room as a group. Pregnant gilts are added to the group at this time. Temporary farrowing cubicles are set up in the lactation room. The cubicles are removed when the pigs are about 2 weeks old. The lactation rooms are large, providing 8 m 2 per sow and litter (Halverson and Honeyman, 1997b). They are approximately square, with a solid concrete floor, a large access door for delivering straw (usually large round bales) and removing manure, automatic waterers, and a raised feeding platform. Usually no supplemental heat is used in the rooms. Animal heat, bedding pack heat, and the straw bedding provide a suitable environment for the pigs. During the lactation period the sows are allowed free access to feed and water, and the pigs begin consuming feed, often with the sows. Straw is added as needed when the pigs are inspected daily. Within the group the pigs age varies by only 3 to 5 days. At nursing, the sows position themselves around the room. Some cross-suckling occurs, but it is not a problem because of uniform pig age and size (Algers, 1991). Many producers remove the pigs needle teeth to minimize fighting injuries. Sow lactation problems (e.g., mastitis, metritis, and agalactia) are rare (Halverson, 1991a,b). At 5 or 6 weeks of age the pigs are weaned by moving the sows back to the breeding/gestation area. The piglets are fed in the lactation rooms as a group until about 25 kg, when they are moved to a finishing unit, usually at a different location. Replicating the Swedish system in Iowa The study was conducted at the Iowa State University Armstrong Research and Demonstration Farm near Lewis, in southwest Iowa (41 19 N, W). Breeding and gestation phases were housed in a hooped structure (11.4 m x 21.5 m). The structure was oriented north-south and consisted of 1.8-m wooden side walls fitted with an arched tubular frame covered by a polyethylene cover or tarp. In Sweden, a variety of naturally ventilated buildings, including old barns, are used for breeding and gestation; thus the new hooped structure was deemed to be an analogous choice. The floor plan for the hoop structure (Fig. 2) followed Swedish concepts of lockable feeding stalls with front access doors, a feeding and service alley, a deep-bedded area for the group-housed sows, bedded boar pens nearby, and pen partitions that could be raised and lowered to match the height of the bedding pack. The feeding stalls and energy-free waterers were placed on a 46-cm high concrete platform. A wooden observation deck was built along the outside of the north end of the structure to accommodate visitors. All floor areas of the hooped structure were concrete, similar to those in Sweden. Large round bales of corn (Zea mays) stalks were used for bedding. Swedish guidelines for bedded space, 2.5 m 2 per Honeyman and Kent p. 3

4 gestating sow, were followed. The structure was naturally ventilated, and drippers were installed over the feeding stalls to cool sows during hot, humid weather. The feeding stalls were open except when the sows were locked in at feeding time. The drippers were on whenever it was hot and the sows could lay in the stalls. Yorkshire x Landrace gilts (approximately 110 kg) and Hampshire boars were obtained in March There was boar exposure to the gilts during the development period. Breeding began in May 1996 using artificial insemination (two services). The boars were used for heat detection and occasional hand mating. Individual gilts were brought to the boar daily for heat detection. Most pig farms in Sweden use Yorkshire x Landrace sows bred to Hampshire boars (Halverson and Honeyman, 1997b). A second group of gilts were obtained in June 1996 and were bred in August Breeding weight was approximately 145 kg. The groups were housed in separate pens in a hoop structure (Fig. 2). The first group of gilts farrowed in September The second group farrowed in November Replacement gilts were added for the last farrowing of each group when group size was reduced due to culling. An existing older hog house (9.8 m x 14.8 m) was retrofitted for farrowing and nursery (Fig. 3). The interior walls and roof were insulated with 15 cm of fiberglass insulation (R-19) including a vapor barrier. The walls were lined with 1-cm plastic sheets. The building, oriented east-west, was fitted with an insulated overhead door on the west. On the east end an observation room was constructed with viewing windows. A concrete feeding platform 30 cm high and 1.5 m wide was constructed at one end. On the platform were four 10-cm-diameter PVC pipes mounted vertically on the wall, which were used as feeders. The pipes were adjustable to leave a space above a floor-level trough. They were filled with feed, and when moved by a pigs snout feed flowed into the trough. The creep area (2.38 m x 1.23 m) was located on one end of the platform. Behind the feeding platform was an observation room with windows to view the pigs. The opposite (west) end of the room had an insulated overhead door (3 m wide by 3 m high). There were three large nipple drinking cups and two piglet-size nipple drinking cups in the southwest corner above a floor drain. Following Swedish guidelines, a breathable ceiling (Tri-County Confinement, Lebanon, PA) for the air inlet and variable speed exhaust fans were installed. The distributed air inlet system, similar to those used in Sweden, was designed to minimize drafts and noise in the lactation room. The ceiling was covered with a plastic woven fabric (122 cm wide) that had rows of holes used for air inlet. Air exhaust was through a single central opening in the ceiling by two variable speed exhaust fans (a large m 3 /sec and a small-0.34 m 3 /sec). Honeyman and Kent p. 4

5 The existing concrete floor was used. Twelve 1.8-m x 2.5-m farrowing cubicles were built of plywood, and the openings were equipped with 7.6-cm PVC rollers (about 40 cm above the floor) to help keep the pigs in the cubicles. The entire room was bedded with oat (Avena sativa L.) straw. A small hanging furnace was used to keep the room a minimum of 21 C during farrowing and 15 C during subsequent lactation. Strategies to minimize hot, humid weather effects on the sows in the farrowing room included: maximum ventilation, opening overhead door, and the use of four 61-cm fans to circulate air in the room. In the gestation hoop, no fans were available, so only natural ventilation was used. Both ends of the hoop were fully opened. Drippers were used over the feeding stalls. Pig management Gestating sows were vaccinated for Clostridial and E. coli scours, parvovirus, leptospirosis, and erysipelas. The gestating sows were fed 1.8 kg of feed per day during the first two trimesters and 2.7 kg/day during the last trimester. The feed was a corn and soybean (Glycine max L.) meal-based complete diet with 12.2% crude protein, 0.56% lysine, and 3,260 kcal/kg. The group of sows was moved to the farrowing room at approximately 110 days after breeding. All sows received an injection of ivermectin at that time for control of parasites. Sows were limit fed on the concrete feeding platform 2.7 kg/d of feed until five days after farrowing started, and then the group was switched to ad libitum feeding. The farrowing and lactation diet was a corn and soybean meal-based complete diet with 15.8% crude protein, 0.81% lysine, and 3,280 kcal/kg (ISU Life Cycle Swine Nutrition, 1996). Sows were allowed to select their own farrowing cubicle. On the day after farrowing, all pigs were processed, i.e., weighed, ear notched, teeth clipped, injected with iron dextran, tail docked, and tail and navel sprayed with iodine. In addition, the males were castrated. Cross-fostering was utilized to even litter sizes of the same age during the 2 days after their birth. When the farrowing boxes were removed, a commercial pelleted piglet feed was offered in the creep area. The diet consisted of 20.1% crude protein, 1.4% lysine, and 3,130 kcal/kg and contained a subtherapeutic antibiotic combination (tylosin and sulfamethazine). The antibiotic was included because a commercial pelleted piglet starter diet without antibiotics was not available. At weaning the pigs were continued on the same pelleted diet until 1.4 kg/pig of the diet was consumed. Then the diet was changed to a corn and soybean meal-based diet consisting of 19.0% crude protein, 1.2% lysine, and 3,150 kcal/kg with no antibiotics. This diet was fed until the pigs were removed from the nursery. At weaning, the pigs were weighed and given a subcutaneous injection of ivermectin. The sows were removed to the breeding/gestation hoop. Sow feed was removed from the feeders in the Honeyman and Kent p. 5

6 farrowing/lactation room, and pig starter feed was put in the same feeders. The pigs did not receive vaccinations during the trial. When the pigs were moved from the room, the bedding pack was cleaned out. It took about 7 hours of labor to remove and spread the manure. The room was washed, disinfected and allowed to dry before the next group of sows was brought in. At weaning, the sows were moved to the hoop structure and housed in a group. Three days after weaning, each sow was taken across the alley and placed in a pen with a boar for estrus detection. If the sow exhibited estrus she was bred by artificial insemination and put in a holding pen. Sows were inseminated daily for up to 3 days in the holding pen if displaying estrus. After the breeding period the sow was returned to the group. The holding pen strategy was used to minimize stress and riding in the large group of sows. Sows that did not exhibit estrus by nine days postweaning or did not conceive were culled. All sows were pregnancy checked using ultrasound 35 days after breeding. The hoop gestation barn was bedded with large round bales of cornstalks. The entire area that the sows occupied was bedded. Additional bales were added when the pack became wet. The area was completely cleaned and rebedded three times per year. It took 6 hours to clean the manure out of the gestation barn and haul it to a nearby compost pile. An average of 47.7 Mg of cornstalks was used as bedding per 12-month period. Farrowing/lactation bedding use consisted of approximately 900 kg of small oat straw bales (25-30 kg each) during farrowing until the boxes were removed followed by one large round bale of cornstalks per week (approximately 600 kg each) until the pigs were removed from the building or an approximate total of 900 kg of straw and 4.2 Mg of cornstalks per lactation/nursery cycle. Results and Discussion Overall, the Swedish feeder pig production system worked well. Farrowing rates were excellent (>95%). Farrowing rate is defined as the percentage of sows that farrowed compared with the number of sows that were bred. Performance of the sows in the farrowing/lactation remodeled building (Table 1) shows that the average number of pigs born alive per litter was 11.3 pigs/litter. Average birth weight was 1.8 kg/pig. The average farrowing period was 7 days. A short (7 days or less) farrowing period is critical for group lactation to keep the pigs about the same age and size. These results are consistent with Canadian research (Connor et al., 1997). Honeyman and Kent p. 6

7 The weakest part of the overall system was farrowing, particularly prewean mortality. Average prewean piglet mortality was 29.2%. Industry preweaning piglet mortality rates from published studies ( ) ranged from 11 to 19% (Cutler et al., 1992). Over 80% of the prewean mortality was due to trauma or crushing of the pigs, and most of the piglet mortality occurred early in the first week after birth (Table 2). The farrowing cubicles may have been too small, or some sows may be better suited to the system than others. Midway through the demonstration, after group B-3 farrowed, guard rails were added to the sides of cubicles (approximately 30 cm above the floor and 18 cm from the cubicle wall) to reduce crushing, but no major change in pig mortality was noted. During the summer heat extremes, the sows were uncomfortable in the farrowing building. This may have contributed to some of the piglet crushing. Improved warm weather ventilation could have been achieved if the observation room had not blocked one end of the farrowing building. A review of the prewean mortality by season of the year showed that group A-3 was the only group that farrowed during the summer months of June, July, and August. Group B-3 farrowed during a hot period in the fall. These two groups had prewean survival that was lower than most of the other groups. Thus, high temperatures may have been a contributing factor in sow discomfort and prewean mortality. Note that this was a very small herd, and the demonstration was for 2 1/2 years. No sow lactation or locomotion problems were noted. The project included 36 sows in total (Table 3). Fourteen of the original 28 sows (4 th and 5 th parities) were productive at the end of the trial. A total of 22 sows were productive at the end of the project. Six sows were culled for small litters, and eight sows were culled for reproductive reasons (abortion, failure to show estrus, or nonbreeders). Weaning occurred at 33.9 days of age on average. The average number of pigs weaned per litter was eight pigs/litter. Average weaning weight was 10.4 kg/pig (Table 1). The pigs remained in the nursery for 26 days after weaning. At approximately 60 days of age the pigs were removed from the nursery and sold. The average selling weight was 24.8 kg. Growth rate (ADG) during the nursery phase was 549 g/day (Table 4). No pig health problems were noted in the nursery. Death loss in the nursery phase was less than 0.7%; i.e., 6 pigs died out of 928 pigs total. These were the first pigs in the facility for many years, and pig performance is often high in new or remodeled facilities. Because of the high farrowing rate (95%) and large litters (11.3 pigs/litter), the litters/sow/year was 2.35 and the pigs born/sow/year was 26.4 over the parities (1 through 5) in this demonstration (Table 5). However, pigs weaned/sow/year (18.9) was reduced because of the high prewean mortality. Honeyman and Kent p. 7

8 The reproductive performance of this system compares favorably with performance measures of the Iowa Swine Enterprise Records in each category, exceeding the top one-third most profitable producers of the record system in spite of the higher prewean mortality (Baas, 1999). The overall higher reproductive performance measures were noteworthy when the longer lactation of 34 days is considered. Also, as a demonstration this is only one observation, and results may vary with different managers. The results of the demonstration also compared well with the performance of 49 Swedish farms that use this system (Table 5), although the pigs weaned/sow/year is lower for the Iowa demonstration primarily due to the high prewean mortality. The manager observed that the pigs, particularly the sows, were calm and easy to work with in this system. No stereotypical behaviors were noted. Sow fighting was not a problem, although mixing of sows of different ages only occurred for the last two farrowings. If prewean mortality was reduced the system would have performed much better. Prewean mortality could be reduced by farrowing in conventional farrowing pens and by moving the sows to group lactation when the pigs are 7-10 days old. Some Swedish farmers follow this approach using swing-side farrowing pens with bedding (Honeyman, 1995). Conclusions The deep-bedded Swedish system of producing feeder pigs was successfully demonstrated on a small scale in southwest Iowa. The system exceeded the overall reproductive performance standards of typical Iowa farms; however, prewean mortality was high. Key concepts of deep-bedded gestation, hoop structures, group lactation, bedded nursery, reduced use of subtherapeutic antibiotics, and excellent stockmanship were successfully shown. Prewean mortality, however, was higher than industry norms. In addition, although the demonstration lasted for 2 1/2 years, it was for a start-up herd, and a longer duration was needed to fully evaluate and demonstrate mixed parity sow groups. The deep-bedded Swedish system will continue to be researched in Iowa, with the farrowing occurring in pens or crates and the sows and litters being moved to deep-bedded group lactation. This change will be an effort to reduce prewean mortality. The system may become attractive to producers for niche pork markets. Acknowledgments. The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of the following: the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development, Atlantic, IA; the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Ames, IA; the staff at the ISU Armstrong Farm; Marlene Honeyman and Kent p. 8

9 Halverson, Northfield, MN; Shawn Shouse, ISU Extension agricultural engineer; U.S. Dept. of Agriculture North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SARE), Lincoln, NE; Dan and Lorna Wilson, Paullina, IA; Donn Damos, Altona, IL; the Swedish American Foundation, New York, NY; Earl Cain, Chariton, IA; Cover-All, Clarinda, IA; Ritchie Industries, Conrad, IA; Dennis Shannon and the late Lauren Christian, ISU, Ames, IA. Honeyman and Kent p. 9

10 References 1. Algers, B Group housing of farrowing sows, health aspects of a new system. Proc. of Seventh Intl. Congress on Animal Hygiene, Leipzig, Germany. p Baas, T.J ISU Swine Enterprise Record Program. ASL-R Swine Research Report. AS-640. Univ. Extension, Iowa State Univ., Ames. 3. Connor, M.L., D.L. Fulawka, and L. Onischuk Alternative low-cost group housing for pregnant sows. Lvstk. Environ. V (1): Proc. of Fifth Intl. Symposium. Am. Soc. Agric. Eng., St. Joseph, MI. 4. Cutler, R.S., V.A. Fahy, and E.M. Spicer Preweaning mortality. In A.D. Leman, B.E. Straw, W.L. Mengeling, S.D Allaire and D.J. Taylor (eds.). Diseases of Swine, 7 th Edition. Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA. p Halverson, M. 1991a. Farm animal welfare: Crisis or opportunity for agriculture? Staff paper Dept. of Agriculture and Applied Economics, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul. 68 p. 6. Halverson, M. 1991b. Using nature as both mentor and model: Animal welfare research and development in sustainable swine production. Staff paper Dept. of Agriculture and Applied Economics, Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul. 44 p. 7. Halverson, M Whole-hog housing. The New Farm 16 (2):1 54, Halverson, M.K. and M.S. Honeyman. 1997a. Humane, sustainable feeder pig production: Transferring a technology developed in Sweden to Midwestern hog farms. Lvstk. Environ. V. (1): Proc. of Fifth Intl. Symposium. Am. Soc. Agric. Eng., St. Joseph, MI. 9. Halverson, M.K. and M.S. Honeyman, 1997b. Swedish deep-bedded group nursing system for feeder pig production. Swine Systems Options for Iowa series. SA-12. ISU Ext. Serv., Ames, IA p Honeyman, M.S Västgötmodellen: Sweden s sustainable alternative for pig production. Amer. J. Alternative Agric. 10 (3): ISU Life Cycle Swine Nutrition PM-489. Iowa State University Extension, Ames, IA 42 p. 12. Jensen, P Maternal behavior of free-ranging domestic pigs, I: Results of a three-year study. Report 22. Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Dept. of Animal Hygiene, Skara, Sweden. 13. Mattson, B Personal communication. Swine consultant, Scan-Farmek, Skara, Sweden. Honeyman and Kent p. 10

11 Table 1. Farrowing phase results of a deep-bedded Swedish system in Iowa. Group 1 A-1 B-1 A-2 B-2 A-3 B-3 A-4 B-4 A-5 Ave. SEM No. of litters Farrowing rate, (%) No. pigs born alive/litter (ave.) Ave. birth weight (kg) No. pigs weaned/litter (ave.) Prewean mortality, (%) Ave. weaning weight (kg) Ave. age at weaning (days) Farrowing period duration (days) Average parity Groups are denoted by letters and numbers. The letter (A or B) refers to the group of sows, and the number refers to the farrowing. 2 Standard error of the mean. 3 Farrowing rate = (no. of sows farrowed/no. of sows bred) Farrowing period duration = no. of days from first to last sow farrowing in the group. 5 Group farrowing B-4 and A-5 were mixed parity groups and consisted of multiparous and primiparous females. Group B-4 had nine 4 th parity and four 1 st parity sows. Group A-5 had five 5 th parity and four 1 st parity sows. Honeyman and Kent p. 11

12 Table 2. Summary of piglet mortality in a deep-bedded Swedish system. Cause Percentage Average age, days Trauma/crushing Starvation Injury Small, nonviable Other Honeyman and Kent p. 12

13 Table 3. Litter data by parity of a deep-bedded Swedish system in Iowa. No. of litters Total born Live born Stillborn No. weaned % weaned Parity Parity Parity Parity Parity Honeyman and Kent p. 13

14 Table 4. Nursery phase performance of a deep-bedded Swedish system in Iowa. Group 1 A-1 B-1 A-2 B-2 A-3 B-3 A-4 B-4 A-5 Ave. SEM No. of pigs Nursery duration (days) Ave. selling age (days) Ave. selling wt. (kg) Ave. nursery ADG (g/day) Groups are denoted by letters and numbers. The letter (A or B) refers to the group of sows, and the number refers to the farrowing. 2 Standard error of the mean. Honeyman and Kent p. 14

15 Table 5. Reproductive performance of a deep-bedded Swedish system in Iowa. ISU Swine Iowa/Swedish Enterprise Swedish records 2 demonstration Records 1 Litters/sow/year Farrowing interval (days) N/A Pigs born/sow/year Pigs weaned/sow/year Iowa State University Swine Enterprise Records Summary, top one-third based on profitability of 102 operations reporting for farrow-to-finish (Baas, 1999). 2 Summary of 49 Swedish farms using this system provided by B. Mattson (1995) reported by Halverson and Honeyman (1997). 3 Farrowing interval average no. of days between parities. Honeyman and Kent p. 15

16 Figure 1. Flow diagram of Thorstensson version of Swedish pig production (Honeyman, 1995). Figure 2. Gestation-breeding hooped structure plan view at ISU Armstrong Research and Demonstration Farm, Lewis, IA. North is at the left end of the drawing. Reprinted by permission from Halverson and Honeyman (1997a). Figure 3. Farrowing and nursery building floor plan at ISU Armstrong Research Farm, Lewis, IA. North is at the top of the figure. Reprinted by permission from Halverson and Honeyman (1997a). Honeyman and Kent p. 16

17 Honeyman and Kent p. 17 Figure 1

18 5 m 1 m feeding stall.56 m wide Breeding 12 sows 21.5 m 1 m 2.5 m 13.7 m 4.3 m 2.5 m scale boar boar spare pens small bale pen pen storage.6 m 11.4 m 1.2 m waterer 2.1 m observation deck Gilt pool 6 sows waterer Gestation 12 sows 7.8 m 4.4 m 7.8 m.6 m Gate for cleaning and adding bales ENTRY RAMP FOR SKID STEER LOADER Gate for cleaning and adding bales Figure 2 Honeyman and Kent p. 18

19 14.8 m 9.8 m 3 m Overhead insulated door 3x3 m 1.8 m x 2.5 m box drinking cups and floor drain 11 m 1.5 m 1.5 m. pole supports 2.8 m.9 m 5.85 m 2.38 x 1.23 m creep area for pigs entry door sow feed area Observation windows Observation room Figure 3 Honeyman and Kent p. 19