Free-access ‘lock-in’ stalls vs group yards for pregnant sows

These comments follow on from Vincent ter Beek’s blog last week on the subject. This made me look up the file notes I have on 8 farms I visited recently who had installed the former and it must be over 50 who have gone in for group yards (12 on concrete slats and 38 with some, or really deep, straw). This useful collection of farm records detailing space allowances, group numbers housed together, herd performance and most interestingly capital costs, allow me to come to some conclusions.