Identifying characteristics of a successful free farrowing sow

To address the Animal Welfare Foundation's 2021 research call on the topic of 'breeding and welfare' existing data from the FREESOW project (2012-2015 - Sainsbury's) will be re-evaluated to identify the phenotypic traits that make a good free farrowing mother. The project will concentrate on behavioural data collected on gilt temperament during the project, as well as farrowing data and performance. Please note Sainbury's and other partners (PIC and JSR) have granted their support to make more from these data. We will recruit a MRes student to conduct analysis as well as write a critical review. We expect at least two peer-review scientific publications.