Abstract

Pig housing has recently been under scrutiny, resulting in some recommendations for adult pigs that may involve less individual housing. Such recommendations have obvious implications for the future viability of the pig industry. Two questions that arise are, 1) are the recommendations scientifically valid and 2) what is the likelihood of developing alternative systems? In relation to the first question, a number of experiments have been conducted on the welfare of pigs in individual and group housing systems. The overall conclusion from this research is that it is the design of the housing system that is important for welfare and not the system per se. In relation to the second question, an alternative system has been developed in The Netherlands that involves indoor group housing for pregnant and lactating pigs. Part of the system is probably directly applicable to dry sow housing in Australia and New Zealand, while the farrowing and lactation components of the system require considerable development before it is applicable to commercial environments. While there is no doubt the industry will have to change and adopt either modifications of current housing designs or totally new housing systems, past experience would indicate pig producers are fairly innovative and are very prepared to adopt new ideas that have been shown to work. It is the scientist's role to make certain that recommendations are scientifically valid and that producers are provided with the options to choose from to make their farm viable.

LR, Matthews

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society of Animal Production, Volume 53, , 173, 1993