Effects of farrowing stall layout and number of heat lamps on sow and piglet behavior

Abstract Farrowing stalls are used in the United States swine industry to reduce pre-weaning piglet mortality, enable efficient individual animal management, and decrease facility construction and operating costs. The quantity and quality of space provided for sows and piglets in farrowing stalls are important economic and welfare considerations. To further explore the impacts of farrowing stall space allocation, a large-scale field study was conducted to compare sow and piglet behavior when housed in three farrowing stall layouts (TSL – traditional stall layout, ECSL – expanded creep area stall layout, ESCSL – expanded sow area stall layout) with either one or two heat lamps (1 H L and 2 H L, respectively). A computer vision system classified posture budgets and behaviors of 322 sows and piglet location for 324 litters. Linear mixed models were developed to compare behavior and piglet pre-weaning mortality metrics between experimental treatments. Results show sows in ESCSL spent more time lying compared to sows in ECSL (p = 0.028) and less time sitting compared to sows in TSL and ECSL (p   0.05). Results can guide producers to consider wider sow areas in farrowing stalls to better meet sow behavioral needs and to include larger heated areas to meet piglet behavioral needs during lactation.