CONSIDERACIONES FINALES

Environment and architecture

From a building engineering point of view the tent has a clear geometrical location in the centre of the square outdoor area. At the same time there will be no risk of percolation of manure under the tent. This construction along with the free access to roughage will allow pregnant sows to be kept on a bedded outdoor area in periods, when expedient, e.g. at times where the grass is especially exposed to wear and where it will be advantageous to collect the dung in the bedding. Thereby, the area can be kept green throughout the year, and at the same time the farrowing huts will be replaced by a far smaller number of farrowing tents for a given herd of sows.

Figure 3 Tents placed alongside field lane. The tent systems may be placed in groups of two tents close to field lane and windbreak belt

The combination of tents, windbreaks and green borders makes up a “pig landscape” to which the animals will have constant or occasional access. At the shady side of the plantation, an area with a minimum width of 24 m will be sown with grass or a similar crop from which the pigs may eat part of the year. The sows will not have ringed snouts, so therefore they will be able to collect feed from the ground outside the grazing period, just as fattening pigs.

By placing the tent systems close to a lane and a windbreak belt, or at the edge of a wood, they will represent a new building style with tents fitted into the landscape. Thereby complying with the below statement of the jury in connection with the awarding of the ID 98 prize (Danish industrial design award).

“At the same time the tents rise in the landscape as impressive sculptural objects, thus making up a tolerable solution to be multiplied throughout Denmark”

Figure 4 Example of a plan at an authentic farm

An area consisting of meadows and windbreaks for sows and fattening pigs as well as proper cultivated areas is a unique feature of this project

The pigs will be most comfortable in the shady areas and where the windbreaks will shelter them. Trees to protect sows and fattening pigs from the weather are very rarely seen in practise. 6 m wide windbreaks will be established from east to west at approximate intervals of 100 m and from north to south along either side of an existing road and a new short cut road. In the windbreak areas, puddles will be established for the pigs to wallow, and the vegetation (oak, beech, hazel, elder, etc.) will be selected with special reference to the demands of pigs. Some of the grass areas will be used for cultivation of grass for hay; other areas will be used for grazing purposes. The areas will form part of a

five-year crop rotation where the pigs may eat from one crop in the summer or autumn and where hay from another crop may be ensiled to serve as fodder for the sows during winter.

Crop rotation in green borders

1. Barley undersown with clower seed 2. First year clover seed

3. Second year clover seed 4. Oat

5. Potatoes

The best cultivation results will be obtained in unshaded areas sheltered by windbreaks where animals will have no access, and therefore, they will not cause damage to the soil structure. One exception, however, will be if a certain job, e.g. removal of couch grass, is to be made. Semi-compost from the united pens will be used to fertilise the cultivated areas. With windshields placed from east to west at 100 m intervals and from south to north along the two access roads, the landscape will apparently be sufficiently rough to obtain a climatic effect which will raise the soil temperature by 1o_{C (Reference). At}

the same time the occurrence of biotopes will be sufficiently high for a biological effect over the ground to occur.

Crop rotation in the production area

The most significant element within plant production will be the organisation of crop rotations. The crop rotation should be organised to satisfy the feeding demands of the pigs widely. The crop rotation will mainly consist of grain and leguminous plants. A certain part of the pig feed will consist of concentrates. As far as possible, second crops will be used in the autumn for collection of mineralised nitrogen. The following crops will be included in the crop rotation:

1. Barley undersown with clover seed 2. First year clover seed and set-aside 3. Oat

4. Triticale undersown with spring sown secondary crop

5. Leguminous plants (peas, lupin, horse beans) followed by secondary crop 6. Barley undersown with leguminous plant/grass as secondary crop.

Seasonal management

Both in conventional indoor systems and in outdoor farrowing huts, the production is normally based on special pens and farrowing pens as well as pens for weaners, fattening pigs and pregnant sows. For all pen types a continuous management will be needed to ensure that all pens will be constantly occupied.

In the one-unit pen system, pens will remain unchanged, irrespective of the type of pigs stalled, e.g. farrowing sows, piglets, fattening pigs or pregnant sows. It will therefore be possible to carry out seasonal management on the basis of knowledge of pigs’ natural mating and farrowing periods, and thereby, to avoid having unoccupied pens.

In the world of nature, the months from November to January are the mating period for pigs. Farrowings will take place during the succeeding spring in the months of March, April or May, and under favourable conditions there will be another mating period after the spring farrowing period. Below is given an example of a seasonal management.

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Mating xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx Farrowing xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx Weaning xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx Slaughtering xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx Cleaning out xx xxxx xx xx xxxx xx

The seasonal management includes nine sows and weekly farrowings over a period of eight weeks. The following advantages will be obtained from seasonal management:

• There will be no farrowings during the warmest period from June to August and during the coldest period from December to February. Thereby, the mortality in piglets may be reduced. Experience from outdoor pig production shows that farrowing outside those periods will imply optimum well being and optimum growth conditions for the pigs. There is reason to discuss whether optimal animal welfare is compatible with farrowing during hot periods, where the risk of heat stress in the sows will be at its highest.

• Farrowings will take place in the most suitable periods. This will open up the possibilities for optimising the farrowing percentage and the number of liveborn pigs.

• Deep bedding may be removed from the pens and spread directly on the field without intermediate storage in the periods with highest biological activity, i.e. March ±2 weeks and September ±2 weeks. This will provide optimal chances to ensure organic binding and to minimise the risk of N-losses.

• In the periods where high attention should be given to pig production, the farrowing and mating periods will be different from the ones where special soil treatment will be needed. Moreover, there will be dull periods suitable for holidaymaking.