Investing in new farrowing accommodation will require budgeting for a number of potential costs.
These costs will depend on which farrowing system you choose to adopt. Outdoor and Multi-suckle systems are generally regarded as low-cost alternatives, whereas individual pens with specific pen features are more expensive.
However, costs of any farrowing system are not only dependent on capital investment but also on performance and efficiency.
What are the Potential Costs?
The major areas in which costs of a free farrowing system may differ from a crate system are:
- Capital costs of pen structure
- Building space allowance
- Straw bedding provision
- Piglet mortality
- Labour requirements
But there are also a number of possible benefits of free farrowing (as demonstrated in research trials) that could offset some of these costs.
What are the Potential Advantages?
- Market premium opportunities
- Better performance (e.g. higher weaning weights)
- Better rebreeding efficiency
How to cost your own development
Use our interactive costing model using the following instructions.
Research results
Our economists have also built a spreadsheet-based costings model from research trials as well as information from industry to run scenarios about potential costs in different alternative farrowing systems. Click on the download below for results from some of the most high-profile systems.
Costs of high profile alternative systems
For more information please contact:
Professor Sandra Edwards, sandra.edwards@ncl.ac.uk
Publications relating to this work can be found here:
Guy, J.H., Cain, P.J., Seddon, Y.M., Baxter, E.M. and Edwards, S.A., 2012. Economic evaluation of high welfare indoor farrowing systems for pigs. Animal Welfare, 21(S1): Pages 19-24.
Cain, P.J., Guy, J.G., Seddon, Y., Baxter, E.M. and Edwards, S.E., 2013. Estimating the economic impact of the adoption of novel non-crate sow farrowing systems in the UK. International Journal of Agricultural Management, 2(2): Pages 113-118. doi.org/10.22004/ag.econ.164361
Published reports
The EU commissioned a report into the economics of phasing out farrowing cages. This has been published in 2023 by Copa Cogeca:
The associated peer-reviewed publication can be found here: Malak-Rawlikowska, A., Majewski, E., Potori, N., Hamulczuk, M., Szili, V. and Egri, E., 2024. Unlocking Sows’ Welfare: The Farm-Level Economic Impact of Phasing out Farrowing Crates for Sows in the European Union’s Pig Breeding Industry. Agriculture, 14(2), p.187. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14020187
AHDB published a report into the economics of alternative farrowing systems which was published in 2020:
