Agri News, MN
04-24-07
ISU researchers studying group housing in hoop structures
AMES, Iowa --Researchers at Iowa State University have been studying group
housing in hoop structures as an alternative to gestation stalls. They say results
are encouraging, in terms of sow performance and economics.
"We found reproductive performance can be maintained or enhanced in wellmanaged group housing systems for gestating sows, such as deep-bedded hoop
barns, without increasing labor," said Mark Honeyman, animal science
professor and coordinator of Iowa State's Research Farms.
The study also found group housing may produce pigs at a lower cost than
individual gestation stalls and that the pigs may qualify for expanding niche pork
markets.
For two and a half years, the effects of two gestation housing systems on sow
and litter performance were evaluated in a project at an ISU-managed research
farm owned by the Wallace Foundation for Rural Research and Development in
southwest Iowa. One system involved individual gestation stalls in a
mechanically ventilated confinement building with a partially slatted floor and a
manure flush system. The other involved group pens with individual feed stalls in
deep-beaded, naturally ventilated hoop barns.
Researchers tracked 957 litters from 353 sows. They found sows in the hoop
barns gave birth to more live pigs per litter than sows gestated in confinement
stalls.
Another study compared the economics of two sow gestation systems.
"The estimated construction cost per gestating sow space for group housing in
hoop barns was $552, compared with $815 for individual confinement stalls -- a
32 percent reduction," said Jay Harmon, professor of agriculture and biosystems
engineering.