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Goal
The improvement of the quality of the environment in the farrowing quarters for the sows as well as for the piglets, saving on energy consumption.
Trick
Working with a nest for piglets in the farrowing quarters we improve the "thermal coexistence" between sows and piglets. We must not forget that they are completely opposite animals with respect to their environmental requirements. The sows feel comfortable with thermal sensations of between 15 and 20ºC, and the piglets, especially during their first days of life, need a thermal sensation of more than 30ºC.
Explanation of the trick
In this farm the farrowing quarters are a bit old, and that explains their design: the farrowing stalls are spacious (approximate width: 2 m), there is a concrete floor and an iron grating and the dividers between the stalls are made of concrete or metallic bars. This makes these stalls thermally cold for the newborn piglets.
Plastic barrel with a square base (left) and sawed off liquid container (right)
In the "R&D" farrowing room we have tried different "prototypes" (all of them are very cheap), and we have chosen a nest that we can use for two stalls at the same time.
With this nest we have halved the number of heating lamps in the farm. Besides, as the power of the lamps is adjustable, and we have installed the control probe inside one of the nests, these lamps run for less time per day. The energy consumption has been reduced by more than a 50%.
Inside the nest, the newborn piglets, with a good paper bedding, the lamp just above them and protected against any draught, recover their body temperature very well.
Thinking about the thermal comfort of the sow we can maintain high ventilation regimes with the cooling pads at a 100% of their power without fearing that the air draughts will be detrimental to the piglets.
Besides, we use these nests for the colostrum intake in turns during the first day of life of the piglets. With high prolificacies it is essential to carry out a “Split-nursing” in order to guarantee that all the piglets consume enough colostrum from their dam. Adding a lid to the entrance of the nest we shut up inside the nest the piglets that have already consumed colostrum so the weakest piglets also have an opportunity.
