Why do some sows prefer to stay out of their stalls?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Given a choice, some pregnant sows simply choose to stay in their 26-inch wide gestation stalls, according to research conducted by the Prairie Swine Centre in Saskatchewan, published on the website of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians.

The study found that 95 per cent of the sows left their stalls at some point to be in a group area but, over 24 hours, about 40 per cent spent less than two per cent of their time outside the stalls. Other animals spent 80 to 90 per cent of their time outside the stalls in a common area with other gestating animals.

Animal behaviourist Harold Gonyou observed that the sows that stayed out tended to be older, larger sows and that raised some questions. Are the younger sows avoiding these larger animals and staying in their space for protection against bullying? Or are the 26-inch wide stalls too small for the older animals and so they choose to lie down elsewhere? BP