Round 2: Top 6 best practices for Space allowance and flooring category

Given the high similarity between several of the submitted practices, the expert group found it particularly challenging to narrow down the selection. For this reason, they agreed to extend the shortlist from 5 to 6 practices in this round. 

Floor plate with slatted flooring

This good practice features a removable floor plate designed to create a solid surface within pens that have 100% slatted floors, requiring no major renovations. The plate serves as a versatile enrichment hub where farmers can provide straw or toys; notably, during summer, a water hose creates a small wallow area on the plate to help pigs thermoregulate. To ensure a smooth transition and stable social hierarchy, the farmer also provides a "welcoming environment" for new arrivals, including dry pens, diverse enrichment materials like sisal ropes and balls, and specialized coarse feed to minimize stress.

Adjusting pen design

y redesigning standard pens to include angled walls, this farmer has created strategic hiding places that allow growing pigs to escape social conflict and "trouble" without fighting. While initially merging two pens into one larger space provided some relief, the reintroduction of the wall at an angle proved more effective at fostering a calm environment. This layout ensures that despite the added privacy for the animals, staff can still easily monitor the entire herd from the hallway, all while maintaining a generous space allowance of 1.0 m² per pig from 30 kg until slaughter.

Sorting in big groups

This innovative farm design replaces traditional small pens with a large-group "no-enclosure" system, utilizing the facility's entire 1,800 m² surface area to allow pigs to move freely. While maintaining the EU density standard of 0.65 m² per pig, this layout provides superior social opportunities and ample space for animals to escape or take refuge during conflicts. Although the system relies on integrated scales to monitor growth and requires advanced digitization and sensors to manage large groups effectively, it maximizes usable space and significantly enhances animal welfare compared to conventional confinement.

Space to Add Efficiency and Animal Welfare

To address space shortages caused by high productivity, this farm constructed a new rearing facility in 2023, adding 400 places to eliminate overcrowding and streamline operations. The expansion significantly improved animal welfare by optimizing group sizes to reduce aggression, enhancing air quality through modern ventilation, and implementing robot washing to ensure high hygiene standards. These upgrades also transformed the staff's working conditions by reducing manual labor, increasing transfer flexibility, and improving occupational safety with non-slip flooring, creating a more predictable and calm production environment for both pigs and workers.

Welfare First in Housing Pigs

stablished in 2021, this modern facility realizes a vision of a bright, airy, and welfare-oriented environment by providing a generous 1 m² of space per pig and simultaneous liquid feeding via long troughs. The pen layout features a two-thirds solid floor with underfloor heating powered by geothermal energy and manure heat recovery, ensuring optimal thermal comfort tailored to the animals' age. Hygiene is maintained through a automated water spraying system that cleans defecation areas four times daily, while enrichment is provided through daily sawdust bedding and straw racks.

A welfare-focused fattening barn in synergy with methanation unit

By bridging the gap between livestock welfare and circular energy, this 1,920-place fattening unit operates in direct synergy with an on-farm methanation unit. To enhance the pigs' environment, the design provides an increased space allowance of 0.84 m² and features an automated system that delivers chopped straw for enrichment, which eventually doubles as a substrate for energy production. This holistic model demonstrates how high standards of animal comfort can be seamlessly integrated with technical efficiency and sustainable energy practices.