Group housing for pregnant sows has largely replaced individual stalls in Europe. Electronic sow feeding (ESF) systems have been central to making group housing commercially viable while managing competition.
The transition from individual stalls to group housing represents one of the most significant improvements in sow welfare achieved through regulation. Sows in group housing can walk, turn, root, and engage in social behavior that individual stalls entirely prevent. ESF systems address the primary management challenge of feeding competition by allowing individual controlled access to feed. Properly managed group housing with ESF achieves equivalent production outcomes to stall housing while delivering substantial welfare benefits. The remaining challenge is managing aggression around ESF station access and ensuring subordinate sows receive their full ration allocation.