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Does free farrowing miss the point?

9th Oct 2016 / By Alistair Driver

Stephen Hall asks some interesting questions about free farrowing on the NPA forum, in response to an article that appeared in the November edition of Pig World. 

He observes: "The whole search for the answer to Freedom Farrowing is predicated on the freedom of the sow to express itself, naturally? We all know the historic outcome of that as well as the current outcome for outdoor producers still grappling with arc design.

"Why are we basing all of the argument on the need to release the sow? Freedom Farrowing misses the point of efficient and welfare effective production of pig meat.

"The focus must be on ‘freedom lactation’ and the optimum welfare friendly point at which this is compulsorily introduced following a confined parturition of indoor sows."

See the Forum page for more on this and discussion about Richard Lister's comments on EU-UK price comparisions.