Open sow housing progresses in Man.

Manitoba’s sows are steadily moving from gestation stall systems to open housing, according to the provincial hog producer organization.

“It seems to be progressing nicely as far as doing conversions over, as producers are able to,” said Mark Fynn, Manitoba Pork Council’s manager of quality assurance and animal health.

“So much goes into the planning of these systems. It’s much more important to get the planning done right in actually building the right design for your sows, even more important than the timeline in which we get it done.”

The Canadian pork industry set a target of 2024 for converting the national herd to open housing systems for pregnant sows. They will replace individual sow stalls that many have criticized as inhumane.

The target was set in 2014, but progress was initially slow as profitability problems and industry challenges made many producers leery of major investment in new barns or systems.

However, some producers converted and those experiences are helping other producers change also.

“The late adopter groups will get all the benefits from the experiences that other producers have so that they can get the system right the first time,” said Fynn.

Maple Leaf Foods recently announced it was going to convert all its company barns to open housing by the end of 2021. That covers about 40 percent of the pigs it processes.

Many other conversions are in the works.

“I don’t think it’ll be much after the original deadline that was set that we’ll see everything converted,” said Fynn.

Many producers haven’t been happy with the costs and risks involved in converting to open housing, but Fynn said change is occurring.

“There are lessons learned and hiccups that you deal with along the way, but I think for the most part the people who have done the conversions are happy with how it’s gone,” said Fynn.

The University of Manitoba has extensively researched open housing, most of it done years before controversy arose over gestation stalls. The University of Missouri has done similar research.

In general, results show that stall-free hog production can be as efficient and economical as that of stall systems, although the two are profoundly different.

Most open housing systems use electronic sow feeders, which remove the incentive for aggressive sows to bully weaker ones. Staff need to manage the animals differently, which requires education and preparation.

Farms in the European Union were required to convert to open housing long before the Canadian system began the move.