Pork producers have constantly looked for better ways to manage their sows. From the early 1980s when many sows were first moved inside – until right before the turn of the century – Swine Vet Center Veterinarian Tim Loula says producers have upgraded their sow facilities. Now – though – Loula says producers face the challenge of some wanting them to move away from gestation stally. He says producers don’t want to give up managing sows individually because the injuries that can occur when sows are grouped hurt the animals – and U.S. producers don’t have the approved pain medications for those injuries. Another concern is the loss of pregnancies the first 30 days, smaller litters and increased sow death losses that can come from group housing. If a move to pen gestation becomes mandatory – Loula says producers believe new facilities would be better than remodeling.

Loula says there are certain things that aren’t negotiable for producers when considering sow housing alternatives. Those include the importance of individual sow feeding, sows in pregnancy stalls for 40-days, high farrowing rates, rethinking workforce allocation, slat quality importance and computer literacy. He says gestation housing is as big of an issue as he has ever seen for pork producers – and they don’t know where to go or what to do because they want to keep moving forward instead of moving backward.