Management and Training

Daily understanding of the farrowing house environment and what is considered normal vs. abnormal comprises an important part of not only the environmental control program, but also sow and piglet health, well-being and productivity.

What is considered normal for farrowing room management can be straightforward for many of the objective measurements including temperature, humidity and, to some extent, fan and inlet settings.

Other areas of farrowing room management, including sow and piglet behavior in relation to their level of comfort in the surrounding environment, certainly take more training.

In theory, if we make sure those areas that can be measured are normal, the comfort of animals within the farrowing room should be quite good.

Considerations for training and correcting of farrowing room environmental problems should include:

• When abnormalities in sow and piglet behavior or the farrowing room environment occur, use this time as a teaching opportunity for everyone involved in the day-to-day management of the farrowing house. Review the causes of the situation and the actions taken to resolve them.

• When a situation is recognized as abnormal or when a problem occurs, ensure that all are involved and understand the solutions implemented.

• Establish some measure to monitor and ensure that the changes made correct the abnormality within a room.

The Bottom Line

The comfort of sows and piglets in the farrowing house has a large impact on the health and production of an enterprise, and relies on the interaction of the facility's daily management and equipment. To this end:

• Manage crate microenvironments with heat lamps and mats to keep piglets warm, dry and draft-free;

• Monitor sow and piglet environments daily using visual assessments and available monitoring tools;

• Use warming and split-nursing techniques early to ensure adequate colostrum intake;

• No matter the feeding system, strive to maximize sow feed and water intake each day;

• Be familiar with the entire ventilation system so that problems that are identified can be fixed; and

• Train farm staff to be observant of environmental challenges and monitor to ensure that satisfactory solutions are found.