Last Updated on September 30, 2021 by Kimberly Crawford
Swine floors should be designed, built, and maintained to avoid damage or suffering to the pigs. The aim of the flooring is to produce a lasting, comfortable, and efficient surface.
Pig flooring should also be adapted to pig size and weight and make a firm, uniform, and sturdy surface. Fuselage and urine should filter readily through the gaps to ensure cleanliness. Easy to clean flooring boosts labor productivity and decreases illness transmission.
Related: 16+ Different Types Of Flooring With Pictures (Kitchen, Bathroom, Living Room,…)
Flooring Temperature
A floor for the sow should be cool and warm for the pigs. The sown is cool polypropylene in the creep area. Cast iron and combination Farrowing Floorer It is durable but comfortable, reduces potential harm to the teat and foot, prevents abrasions, and cleanses well.
The cast iron gives excellent traction to the sow. The plastic in the creep area is non-conductive and does not rob small pigs of body heat.
Combination pig flooring solutions are advantageous because sows prefer the cooler cast-iron surface and pigs prefer the warmer polypropylene. The pigs thus spend most of their time on the warmer surface and away from the sow, resulting in fewer crushing deaths.
They are also less cooling and fewer illnesses and polypropylene flooring. This flooring mix gives both the sow and its pig thermal comfort.
Flooring for thermal comfort proven cost-effective
The very first 24 hours after conception is the period for piglets. Pigs which come into a farrowing room of 70 degrees C or less in the 102-degree warmth of the sow are particularly prone to heat loss.
Younger piglets need a cleaner and warmer floor than older pigs. The reason is that younger pigs have a less developed immune function and need hotter temperatures. Younger pigs are easier to chill and disease-prone.
Chilled baby piglets have lower illness resistance, are lethargic, and often do not suck adequately. As a result, they are more likely to be put on by the sow or never receive a decent nursing start. There’s no fat for little pigs to keep them warm.
The only heat a pig gains is via its intake. The loss of heat however is the result of a mixture of chilly surfaces, air temperature, draughts, and pig flooring type. The more the heat loss, the more feed it takes to compensate for the loss and make gains.
Major benefits Over Metal Type Floors
Major benefits Over Metal Type Floors: Pig flooring is made of pure polypropylene plastic and offers several advantages over typical metal floors:
Polypropylene lasts for years longer than metal which is highly laborious when replaced by new ones. The expense of keeping the floor temperature acceptable for the pigs is considerably lowered, as energy needs are far lower.
The downside of a product being thermal conducting is that more energy is necessary to maintain a degree of comfort than a non-thermal product. Either the power of the pig is wasted or the expense of energy necessary to maintain the degree of comfort is increased.
Schonlau Cast Iron Flooring
Schonlau is the best-cast iron on the world market and has been on the market for decades. It is the only cast iron produced in the world via the “open mold process.” There are no part lines since a one-piece mold is used in the process.
There are two more molds (one bottom and one above), resulting in sharp edges of the part lines. Independent German institutes confirm that teat injuries are 6% lower than the competitors. This is why the largest firms in Europe employ Schonlau. Schonlau cast iron laths have exceeded all other sow floors on the market.
