Farrowing pen design helps against crushing

German pig producer Wilhelm Schulte-Remmert, based in Lippstadt, is working with free farrowing sows. In his view, the key terms in preventing crushing are peace and quiet, supervision and separate functional areas. “It was me who paid for the pig house, but essentially it is the sow who is head of the farrowing pen,” says pig producer Wilhelm Schulte-Remmert. It neatly sums up his working method. Nothing in the farrowing pens happens without the sows’ “permission”. For example, a f