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Deep Straw Systems
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Deep-straw systems provide
natural warmth for hogs and require far less financial investment
and risk than typical confinement approaches. Photo courtesy
of USDA-ARS |
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When Swedish regulators imposed stricter animal welfare laws, banned
sub-therapeutic antibiotics for livestock and passed other environmental
protection laws in the late 1980s, hog farmers pulled pigs out of confinement
crates and into group settings. By providing deep straw bedding for
groups of pigs, Swedish farmers turned manure into a solid waste, provided
warmth and exercise and created an opportunity for the animals to develop
natural herd and social instincts that they say promotes better animal
health and less piglet mortality.
Many alternative hog systems rely on deep straw. Mixed with the
hogs' urine and manure, the deep straw bedding composts in hoop structures.
In addition to providing heat, deep straw systems center on hogs
growing in groups and allow the pigs freedom of movement.
While much less capital-intensive than confinement swine systems,
alternative systems relying on deep straw require careful farm management
to minimize disease and provide the feed and bedding hogs need at
different stages of life. In economist parlance, raising pigs in
these systems means more variable costs - feed, bedding, labor - versus
fixed costs such as confinement buildings. Alternative swine researchers
like to point out that such systems provide flexibility and less
up-front investment.
While the systems are gaining in popularity, especially in England
and Sweden, their use in the United States is still clustered in
the Midwest, particularly Iowa and Minnesota. Raising hogs in deep
straw can be accomplished virtually anywhere because it keeps hogs
warm in cold climates. (It's easier to keep hogs warm than cool because
hogs only sweat through their noses and have difficulty losing body
heat.)
"Alternative swine production systems allow more freedom of movement
and choice to the pig and require a unique style of husbandry," said
Honeyman. In 1995, Honeyman won a SARE grant to explore the feasibility
of importing Swedish systems here and hosted a group of visiting
Swedish researchers, farm advisers and farmers for 10 days.
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Farrowing in Deep Straw
Some farmers use deep straw for farrowing piglets. Researchers have found that
providing individual pens with straw for farrowing sows - but larger rooms
with straw for group gestation and lactation - reduces stress by giving the
pigs and sows something to root through. Sows on deep-bedded systems are
always group-housed, which helps encourage them to go into heat simultaneously.
Hog farmer Dwight Ault's decision to move from a confinement system
to deep straw for farrowing was a financial necessity. The Austin,
Minn., farmer had 26-year-old crates, gates and other confinement
materials badly in need of an upgrade. Aided by a SARE producer grant,
Ault decided to emulate a system he had seen firsthand in Sweden
and converted a barn for deep-straw farrowing. The work cost $3,000,
less than one-third the cost of replacing the confinement equipment.
"I was sick and tired of the ammonia and smell" in the old confinement
system, he said. "I figured that my enjoyment of raising hogs would
be enhanced."
Today, Ault farrows 60 sows in the deep-bedded system each January,
then on pasture each June. After his second season using deep-straw
farrowing, in 1998, Ault declared he "never had better performance" from
the pigs. "If anything, I'm worried that [production is] going to
be way ahead of schedule," he said.
Deep-bedded farrowing requires a room large enough to house about
10 farrowing sows. Providing temporary farrowing boxes in the nursing
rooms enables the sows to build straw nests in which they give birth.
Piglets stay in the boxes for up to 10 days before farmers remove
the boxes and encourage them to mingle with the group.
In the winter, the heat generated by the sows and the composting
straw means farmers do not need to provide as much supplemental heat.
Large windows and doors allow air to flow, and ventilation systems
draw fresh air. The quiet ventilation system allows the sows and
piglets to better communicate, which may reduce pig deaths by crushing.
In general, the Swedish farrowing system requires more management,
observation and planning than a conventional system, but labor averages
only about 18 hours per sow per year. Sow culling rates, building
repairs, cleaning, moving, medicating and assistance at farrowing
are lower in the Swedish system. However, piglet mortality can be
higher in the Swedish system compared to conventional farrowing crates.
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| When Farrowing in Deep Straw: |
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Use enough straw (usually two large round bales)
to insulate the pigs from cold cement or ground to start a nursing
room of eight to 10 sows. |
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Add a bale per week, plus more as needed. |
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Allow 27 square feet per sow and 81 square feet
per sow and litter. |
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Be vigilant about cleanliness to prevent disease. |
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