SPF company focuses on more good and healthy piglets

The SPF status of the sow farm belonging to the partnership Pierik from Ruurlo not only yields good prices, but also a lot of job satisfaction. "Having to apply fewer vaccinations and other treatments works well. We hardly use antibiotics anymore. That gives a lot of peace of mind."

The company has had a high health status with 1.580 sows since 2006. The attention to hygiene, neat work and clean and tidy stables is visible on and around the company. The building block and yard are neat, clean and tidy. Inside, the departments, which all have windows for daylight in the stable, are all as dust-free as possible and there is hardly a spider's web in sight.

Location in Germany
For Jasper Pierik it is the most normal course of events. "It was ingrained in me at an early age. Working neatly and cleanly is easy and pleasant and keeping up with it is then a small effort." In addition to the Ruurlose location, the company has a company in Germany. The weaned piglets of 3 weeks old go to this location and go to a trader with a weight of 30 kilos. 'We work with an all-in all-out system,' explains Pierik. 'Every 2 weeks we deliver about 2.200 piglets there on Monday. We then empty it in 1 go.'

Predictability
The sow farm works with a 2-week system. Until 2016, this was a 4-week system, but the work peaks would then become too high, because 304 sows would start whelping. Now there are 150. "That is easier to round. The sows give birth on Friday, which is ready on Friday afternoon, then we treat the piglets on Monday and Tuesday. Castration, docking, iron injection and numbering. On Wednesday and Thursday the piglets weaned and so on."

Also today gestational sows go to the farrowing pen to be able to farrow in a week. Pierik likes the predictability and regularity of work. "We know what comes when and because of that predictability we can bet on the best result time and time again."

Aftermath of heat in July
Pierik has an average number of 35,5 weaned piglets per sow per year. The aim is 37. He has been using a Topigs3 sow for 70 years because of the meat quality, good feed conversion and good carcass quality. "We have too few live-born piglets. We are constantly on top of that. The percentage of stillbirths is 6 and the loss in the farrowing pen is also 6 percent. There is not much to be achieved there, because those percentages are already low. born is at 15,2, but this must be above 16," says Pierik.

After the aftermath of the warm July weeks, you can now see them back in the stable. The sows of the piglets that are now born have been mated during the warm period. "They were mated on July 29 and 3 days before that it was very hot. I have never experienced a low of 12,2 live births. Those piglets are all coming now, so we are not there yet."

African swine fever
Pierik agrees that the shortage is favorable for the price. "The supply will only decrease further. And if the crisis in China continues, prices will benefit even more." Last year the piglet price was on average €39,27, this year it is already €54,24. "On Monday the price will probably touch 66 euros," he knows. Unprecedented good times make him decide to invest in solar panels and new farrowing crate frames. But less good times are also lurking, he predicts. "The long-term feed profit forecasts are not much higher. And it remains exciting how the developments with the African Swine Fever are going. It is certain that the disease appears in wild boars. It's not if it will happen, but when."

Movable box floor
In 2017, Pierik converted the piglet houses into farrowing houses. Investments were again made in movable box floors to prevent piglets from dying. "We have been working with this in the existing barn since 2007. Dead-beds were the reason for 6 percent failure. And these were often the best piglets. Now the number of dead-beds is below 1%."

Underfloor heating and an extra drinking nipple for the sows were also chosen. "We believe it is important to always have access to fresh and clean water", Pierik points out. The lofts have a size of 2.50 by 1,95 meters. "This is spacious, but we chose it because we would like to wean up to 16 piglets," he explains.

Labor intensive
In the sow barn, 800 sows are kept in 4 groups of 200 in groups. The barn was built in 2017 and equipped with feeding stations. Pierik is less satisfied with the group housing. "I would have preferred stalls with a free range, but according to the requirements of the Maatlat Duurzaam Veehouderij 2017, we had to build the barn in this way. Smaller groups of sows, with about 30 per group, would have made the work much more manageable. very labour-intensive, because with a lot of work you have to be two. We give the animals a color stripe on the back to see which stage of pregnancy they are in and what we should pay attention to." Pierik also finds the unrest among the sows a disadvantage of group housing. "The advantage is that they are not afraid or shy because we often walk between them. That makes work in the farrowing pen easier."

Remediation scheme
So far, Pierik's company has had little hindrance from the nitrogen discussion. "We have the permits in order and use the space we have. Our building block is full, so we can't expand anyway." He does not know whether pig farmers in his area are enrolling en masse for the remediation scheme. "I don't hear much about it, I notice it remains a topic that is not talked about much."

Quitting the company is in any case not an option for the young entrepreneur. Maintaining the SPF status and supplying good piglets is and remains the aim. "In Germany the fatteners are willing to pay well for a good piglet. We will continue to focus on that."

Text: Mascha Scharenborg

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