Behavioural observations of piglets in an organic free farrowing pen

Summary

Animal-friendly free farrowing can be associated with a higher risk of piglet losses, which mostly occur within the first days of life and often due to crushing by the sow and hypothermia. In the heated piglet nest, the piglets are protected from these hazards. Therefore we hypothesize that early and frequent nest use can increase piglet survival. To identify conditions which attract the piglets to the nest, different piglet nest designs and management strategies were compared.