37 Bulletin UASVM, Veterinary Medicine 68(1)/2011 pISSN 1843-5270; eISSN 1843-5378 Implications of Farrowing Crates on Welfare Lactating Sows Viorel ANDRONIE 1) , Monica PARVU 1) , Ioana ANDRONIE 1) , Alexandru DUMITRU 1) 1 University “Spiru Haret”, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, 021127 Bucharest, Masina de Paine, 47, Romania; viorelandronie@yahoo.com Abstract. The research monitored the welfare evolution of lactating sows that were housed in farrowing crates, in commercial farms, based on the skin lesions and lameness. The observations were carried out on lactating sows (Mangalitza, n: 40), during their entire lactation period and the animals were grouped in two lots: A lots, housed in farrowing crates with continuous, concrete flooring on 75% of the surface and a type of grate in the defecation area for the sows and the piglets to use (25%); B lot, housed in improved farrowing crates featuring discontinuous plastic flooring on the entire surface of the box. The skin lesions on the sow and piglets were assessed by inspection on days 7th, 15th, 24th following farrowing. The number of sows displaying skin lesions was higher in A lot (59%) compared to B lot (41%), while skin lesions in piglets was 65% for the B lot compared to 35% for A lot. The monitored indicators varied in both types of farrowing crates. Welfare of lactating sows must be assessed depending on the animals' housing system. Keywords: lactating sows, animal welfare, farrowing crate INTRODUCTION Living conditions of pigs are totally different in their natural habitat from the intensive husbandry systems, as they are subject to several stress factors derived from specific activities, such as: tails docking and tooth clipping, castration, mixing process at the end of production cycle and transport to slaughter house. The negative implications of long-term exposure to traumatic situations are frequently obvious during the critical stages of animal production and reproduction cycles and threat to negatively impact their welfare (EFSA, 2007). Crate flooring type is mentioned amongst risk factors associated with skin lesions and lameness in all pig group ages (Barnett et al., 2001). The quality of crate flooring is essential to pigs’ welfare level with direct effect on their health and productivity when sl aughtering. Results of similar research in the field have pointed to the fact that skin lesions may be caused by housing of pregnant sows in collective crates prior to farrowing, as the animals display aggressive behaviour when mixed as well as during the last week of their gestation. Piglets housed on concrete or grate type of floors cannot pursue their natural behaviours of searching for food and exploring the environment, tend to stay much more inactive and aggressive compared to the ones reared in an alternative system (Smith et al., 2003). Some research has shown that housing systems of discontinuous concrete floored crates are associated with severe problems of the cloven hoof, while housing sows in plastic floored crates of grate type is associated with minimal problems of the cloven hoof. The