Hope admits he was wary to jump into loose sow housing, but after moving sows into the barn and using the system, he quickly saw how well it works.

“Overall, we’re saving two hours a day in the barn,” says Hope.

FREEDA Automated heat detection saves time because Hope doesn’t have to walk a boar to check for open sows. Instead, the boar is in an enclosed pen near the feeder exit within the gestation pen. FREEDA’s RFID technology tracks how often and how long sows stop to interact with the boar.

FREEDA Dynamic ESF with separation reduces labor because Hope doesn’t have to search for animals. The system sorts out sows that need Hope’s attention, including those the automated heat detection system identified as open or sows scheduled to move to farrowing.

“We’ll enter sows to be sorted out, and within 24 hours, they’re all in the holding pen – just standing there looking at us and waiting to walk to a farrowing room.”

Hope likes the way the FREEDA Electronic Sow Feeder’s forward exit allows his herd to move efficiently through the feed station every day.

“Sows are not forced to back out of the feeder into sows that are waiting, and we’ve never had an issue with a sow lying down in a feeding station and not allowing another girl to go through,” says Hope. “The way the feeder is designed with a rear entrance and a separate forward exit allows more animals to get through in less time.”

FREEDA Electronic Sow Feeding has eliminated feed wastage in Hope’s barn.

“In our stall barn, where we manually drop feed for all the sows, we have to scrape wasted feed every day,” says Hope. We have literally zero feed wastage in these stations.”

Hope thinks the FREEDA system also contributes to the uniformity of his herd’s body condition, and he’s seeing the benefit when his sows go to farrowing.

“We are feeding even more specifically than in a stall barn now,” says Hope. “We can definitely see that in our herd.”