Service area lighting

Sows require certain lighting during servicing to ensure fertility and conception. Lighting in service pens should provide more than 200 lux directly above the heads of the sows, and this should be on a timer to give 16 hours of light and eight hours of darkness. It is important to clean the lamps periodically and replace them every year in July (this helps to prevent an infertility dip in autumn).

Pregnancy
To ensure viable pregnancy, a sow requires constant daylight length; ideally, this should be 12–16 hours per day (i.e., summertime daylengths). This will mimic her natural cycle and timing of pregnancy. The intensity of light experienced by the sow can be affected by various environmental inadequacies, for example: insufficient lighting; fly faeces and dust on lamps, which limits the availability of light; and walls and equipment that produce shadows. Light should be sufficient in all parts of the sow housing. Ideally, text from a newspaper should be easily read at the height of the sow’s head. Simple procedures can be done to increase the impact of lighting, such as painting roofs and walls white to reflect the light. This has been shown to prevent abortions in some situations.

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