Stockmanship
The move from individual stalls to group housing for gestating sows requires important changes in how animal caretakers approach their duties. In a stalled system, a given sow is always in the same place each day. If a given sow is sick and not eating, this is easily detected because her allotment of feed remains well after all other sows have consumed their allotment. If a sow requires special attention for ill-health or other conditions, the caretaker simply records the location of the sick sow and can return to that location multiple times to find the sow. However, in a group system, sows are mobile so a sick sow cannot necessarily be identified by remaining feed or her location. So, caretakers must be more cognizant of sow behavior to identify sick sows, injured sows, and submissive sows that are not consuming sufficient feed. Producers that successfully implement a group housing system must adopt an “animal-directed” approach that focuses on individual sows (Kemp and Soede, 2012).