The Rural Voice, 2003-03, Page 32•
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28 THE RURAL VOICE
expensive gestation crates. "I'm
going to predict we will go this way,"
he said, though suggesting the shift
will take a while as facilities are worn
out. "In the long term there will be a
switch. It's cheaper and easier to
operate."
Providing the personal evidence of
the advantages of group housing was
Reid Wilson who built a partially -
slatted -floor barn near Milverton,
based on the experience of the
University of Guelph's barn at Arkel.
"It's less labour than stalls by a long
shot," he told the audience.
pigs
are housed in pens of 25
with about 25 square feet per
pig. Stub walls divide the pen
into four sections providing more
running feet of walls for the sows to
lie against.
Wilson said he hasn't had to
scrape a pen once in his eight
months' experience with the new
barn.
He feeds twice a day using 12 -
drop floor -feeding system that takes
little time. Feeding twice a day seems
'to require less total feed to keep the
sows weight up, he says.
He was questioned by Blackwell
who said "everything we've been
taught says sows should use more
feed in loose pans than in stalls."
"I can't explain it other than the
sows are happier," Reid said.
Groups of sows stay together and
seem happier and more content, he
said. He started out with gilts in the
pens but later learned sows could be
brought together in groups with little
disruption if they were put in the pen
right after breeding. Fighting has not
been a problem, he said.
It's also easier to pick out sows
who are in heat in group pens, he
said.
"If we were to do it again, I'd do it
exactly the same," he said.
While matching Europe's animal
welfare standards may help Canada
compete in foreign markets in the
long run, it will do little to solve the
largest trade irritant in the country's
biggest export market: the U.S.'s
Country of Origin Labelling (COOL).
Economist Ken McEwan of
Ridgetown College pointed out "the
impact of the COOL is difficult to put
your hands on". Probably Ontario
and Manitoba will feel the biggest
pressure once the rules become