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Floor cooling for fattening pigs

Pigs are sensitive to high ambient temperatures and can suffer from heat stress if the temperatures rise even moderate. The purpose of this project is to investigate the effects of floor cooling for fattening pigs during the warm season.

Pigs' welfare and behaviour are affected of the thermal comfort which in turn may affect how pigs choose to use different areas in the pens. During the warm season, providing pigs sufficient chill by increased air flow can be challenging. Pigs may therefore adversely lay on the cooler slatted floor, instead of the solid floor, to loose heat. This behaviour results in poorer pen hygiene, disturbance of the pigs’ resting behaviour, increased agonistic behaviours as well as increased workload for the farmers. Pen fouling also has negative impact on the gaseous indoor environment. 

At high ambient temperatures, pigs risk to suffer from heat stress. Pigs have limited physiological abilities to loose heat due to thick subcutaneous tissues and a limited number of functional sweat glands. Heat stress negatively impact the health and welfare of the pigs. 

The project will be carried out as a research study in fattening pig barns by;

  • Investigate the effect of floor cooling on the thermal environment, the behavior of the fattening pigs, cooling effect / eventually heat stress
  • Investigate the effect of floor cooling on pigs' health, welfare and production
  • Investigate the effect of floor cooling on air quality (ammonia, airborne bacteria and respirable particles)

In addition, improved indoor gaseous environment reduce negative impact on the surroundings by reduction of pollutants, benefitting several sustainability goals.

 

Summary

Project name

Floor cooling for fattening pigs

Status

Active

RISE role in project

Projektledare

Project start

Duration

3 år

Total budget

2 980 464 (S-JTI) + 57 100 (S-SGF)

Partner

Statens Veterinärmedicinska Anstalt

Funders

Stiftelsen JTI, Stiftelsen Lantbruksforskning, Stiftelsen Svensk Grisforskning

Project members

Supports the UN sustainability goals

3. Good health and well-being
6. Clean water and sanitation
12. Responsible consumption and production
13. Climate action
14. Life below water
Cecilia Hagberg

Contact person

Cecilia Hagberg

Forskare

+46 10 516 69 26

Read more about Cecilia

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Cecilia Lindahl
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