December 20, 2021

 

Inauguration of WEDA free farrowing pens in Finland underscores efforts towards better pig welfare

 

 

In recent years, Finland has become a pioneer in sustainable exercise pens for sows.

 

Finland's largest piglet producer, Timo Heikkilä, is one of this pioneers. With the help of  barn equipment supplier WEDA Dammann & Westerkamp, the farmer based in Rusko, 200 kilometres west of Helsinki, has successfully converted his farm to free farrowing. Heikkilä's new movement pens have now been honoured at a ceremony by the Finnish government.

 

At the start of November, Jaana Husu-Kallio, State Secretary at the Ministry of Agriculture, inaugurated the new pens. With the new units, Heikkilä now has a total of 12 barns with 32 movement pens each.

 

Husu-Kallio was particularly pleased that Finnish farms invest in animal welfare and thus create the conditions for species-appropriate husbandry.

 

For about five years, a Finnish government programme has been consistently promoting husbandry systems that ensure greater animal welfare. Since then, pig farms in Finland have increasingly been converting their barns.

 

From the beginning, WEDA has actively supported its Finnish customers and partners. Such efforts included several visits by Finnish farmers to WEDA.

 

The use of the new farrowing crates from WEDA is justified by the safety of piglets. Without adequate technology, sows can smother their piglets.

 

On Heikkilä's farm, this risk is minimised by temperature differences: The sow, which produces much heat, needs a cool surface, while piglets seek warmth. The piglets are therefore housed in pens where heat lamps ensure a temperature of 35 degrees.

 

In the grate, the temperature is well below 20 degrees, and the conditions there are favourable for the sow. Due to the temperature differences, sow and piglet are separated in the pen most of the time.

 

The new pens also provide more safety for the barn staff. When necessary, it is possible to convert the pens into a temporary cage so that sows can be confined to clean the pens or for treatment. The space available to animals in the pen has also been carefully thought out, according to WEDA.

 

As such, the space for the sow is triangular. Experience on other farms has shown that a triangular shape is best suited to minimising piglet mortality.

 

In addition to innovations for animal welfare, solutions must also be efficient in order to improve productivity and reduce human labour input. This includes, above all, technologies that encourage the animal to behave naturally, as desired by the stable staff. For example, straw dispensers are placed in the pen in such a way that the manure lands on the grid rather than on the concrete floor. "This reduces the amount of work involved in keeping the barn clean, so the bottom line is that the technologies always have a positive effect on animals and people alike," Heikkilä said.

 

- WEDA