Balancing Sow and Piglet Welfare with Production Efficiency

The close confinement of sows in barren environmental conditions gives rise to major public concern for their welfare. Such concern has resulted in EU legislation to ban individual confinement systems for the majority of gestation, and strong pressures to find alternatives to the farrowing crate for lactating sows. Many alternative loose housing systems for dry sows exist, and have been in widespread use for a number of years. They have the potential to deliver both higher welfare and good reproductive performance, but careful attention to feeding and management to prevent social stress is critical to success. Adoption of alternative non-confinement systems for farrowing and lactation is more problematic. Despite their routine use in some EU countries at the current time, systems which guarantee good piglet survival under large-scale indoor production conditions have yet to be commercially proven. It is likely that changes to both genetics and management will be necessary to make such systems function in an acceptable commercial way. THE CURRENT STATUS OF SOW WELFARE LEGISLATION IN THE EU Amongst the many issues in the debate on farm animal welfare, it is those which involve the close confinement of animals in barren environments which have given rise to the greatest public concern. Thus, the keeping of laying hens in battery cages, the raising of veal calves in individual crates and the use of gestation stalls and farrowing crates for sows have been the first targets for campaigns by welfare pressure groups, and the subject of responsive legislation. Within the EU, the first restrictions on sow housing systems were specified in Directive 91/630/EEC, which required the phasing out of tether systems by 2006. Stall systems for gestating sows, while still permitted under this 1991 Directive, were acknowledged to pose a number of challenges to sow welfare and were made a key subject in a detailed review of pig welfare by an EU expert working group (Scientific Veterinary Committee, 1997). As a result of the conclusions from this review, further restrictions were introduced in an amendment to the Directive in 2001 (Directive 2001/88/EC) which requires phasing out of the use of gestation stalls, except for the first 4 weeks of pregnancy, by 2013. Several countries (including Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and UK) have unilaterally implemented a ban on all individual confinement systems for dry sows before this date. The target of animal welfare pressure groups is now the farrowing crate, and the 2001 Directive amendment specifically requested a scientific review of this subject which has recently been delivered (EFSA, 2007). Whilst no EU-wide legislation appears imminent regarding this