In commercial farrowing pens, creep areas for the piglets are often provided only at the front or on one side of the pen. Because of the strong bonding which newborn piglets have to the udder, such arrangements are often inadequate to attract piglets into the creep area where danger from hypothermia increase the suitability for the newborn piglet of farrowing pens with a typical commercial side creep design.

The experiment was carried out in a commercial farrowing house with partially slatted, unbedded pens. These pens were of typical commercial ‘side creep’ design with a wide creep area on one side of the crate, and a narrow unheated area on the other. The wide creep area contained a tray with a bedding of shavings and was heated by a heat lamp. Experimental pens were adapted by placing diagonally the pen division separating the narrow creeps in two adjacent pens. This created a wider area at the front of one pen and at the rear of the adjacent pen (Fig 1). These areas were provided with a bedding of shavings and a heat lamp for the first 48 hours of life.