The perception of biosecurity, management, and labour of batch management production systems among pig producers

Nowadays, batch management systems (BMSs) are more frequently applied on a pig farm than traditional continuous production systems. But until now, little research has been identified about pig breeders’ perceptions of BMSs. Therefore, a survey was built to assess advantages and disadvantages, perceived by producers of each BMS, focusing on biosecurity, management, and labour. The survey was completed by 45 farmers. Results revealed that 4-BMS and 5-BMS farmers were more satisfied about hygiene (P=0.0060) and health conditions (P=0.0225) on their farm compared with the other farmers. This could be explained by the need for only one farrowing room and the low number of batches required in both BMSs. Possibly due to this higher satisfaction about their biosecurity, a reduced piglet vaccination coverage (P=0.0399) and more labour efficient management (P=0.0101), were indicated by those farmers. However, almost none of those farmers indicated the absence of labour peaks in the list of advantages, probably beca...