Kevin Braden, general manager southwest operations at Hog Slat, talked with The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell at the 2023 World Pork Expo in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, about Hog Slat’s Free Access Stall.

Hog Slat spent eight years developing their Free Access Stall.

“As we gravitate to a more open pen gestation,” said Braden. “This is a very good option for producers to use to still breed in and contain the animal inside to keep your breeding operation consistent with what you’ve been doing. We offer the best free access stall on the market today.”

Features of the Free Access Stall

“I want to go over a few features of this free access stall,” he said. “There are a couple of things that we really think are key to making it so successful and that  separate it from others on the market.”

• Stainless steel bushings that function as bearings for all pivot points
• Pivot points that are free flowing and never hang
• Adjustable tube legs to fit any facility – new or existing
• Stainless steel legs with adjustable leg mounts that are hot-dipped galvanized
• Flexible legs that can rotate 360° to keep the crate level
• Free flowing with bumpers to reduce noise
• Locking handles every 15 stalls so that stalls can be locked asa group at one time
• Individual locks at the rear of each stall to lock one stall at a time
• Counterbalance arm that gets 24 inches from the ground to free flow
• Counterbalance arm that allows for easy entrance and exit
• Ability to add steel feed pipe to feed in steel trough
• Steel feed trough that can be permanently mounted near the head of the stall
• Individual steel drink nipple can be attached to the side of the stall
• Entire stall is hot-dipped galvanized steel
• Robust system that has been tested and evaluated to ensure free flowing access
• Provides individual animal refuge

System benefits for the producer

“We've been conventional producers and we're used to breeding inside of gestation stalls,” said Braden. “The Free Access Stall gives you the best of both worlds.”

It allows producers to breed in a stall which is what the labor force is accustomed to, but it opens the door up to let the system work as a free access open pen.

“It's really changing how we raise the animal in the actual corral that she's in, but your people still can breed in the same way that they have been,” he said.

Learn more about the Free Access Stall.