Recent research in Belgium's main pig-producing region, Flanders, has revealed that just under 36 per cent of Flemish sow farms have so far converted, while an additional 13 per cent have plans to do so.

The Belgian pig industry has just over one year left to convert to group housing as this system will become mandatory for all sows as from four weeks after insemination, until one week pre-farrowing, throughout the whole of the European Union as from 1 January 2013.

The results were presented recently by researcher Frank Tuyttens, at the Institute for Agriculture and Fishery Research (ILVO). He sent a survey to sow farmers in the region who had more than 10 sows. In all, 248 producers cooperated in the research.