Abstract: A sow farrowing station to reduce the mortality of piglets includes a slab, a surrounding crate to constrain the sow, the slab defining within a crate a floor transport region consisting of independent pressure sensitive members which travel over the region to transport piglets from beneath the sow, but when the sow itself steps onto one of the pressure sensitive transport members, that member stops its travel so that the sow does not have to continually "walk" yet, when the sow lies down all the transport members are arrested and the piglets can then move to nurse from the sow.