High piglet price does not come out of the blue

There is a reason that piglet prices reach record highs in mid-February. Sow farmers in Germany are overwhelmed by changing regulations and therefore have little confidence in the future. Due to the uncertainty, many sow farmers are throwing in the towel. This trend is also confirmed by statistics. 

According to Lars Prigge, chairman of a sow farmers' union in Lower Saxony and a sow farmer himself, there is currently no political support of any kind. Due to animal welfare discussions about group housing, tail docking without anesthesia and piglet castration, sow farmers have been inundated with extra rules over the years. ‘The sow farming system in Germany literally leaves no stone unturned,’ says Prigge. According to the chairman, many sow farmers are therefore thinking of leaving the sector.

Figures show that the number of sow farms in the state of Lower Saxony has shrunk by 40 percent to approximately 2.000 farms in 2016. Due to the closures, the sow herd has 85.000 fewer animals to approximately 480.000 sows last year. Many small sow farms in particular are closing their doors, but no larger companies are coming back. A 

The German piglet price has risen to 55,50 euros at the beginning of February due to the sow farmers who stop sow farmers. The picture that the piglet market has shown in the past period also deviates from historical movements that the market usually makes. The piglets that are there are in great demand among fatteners and thus the quotations lift. The demand for piglets is partly fueled by the fact that pig prices rose to acceptable levels in 2016. 

Incidentally, Lower Saxony mainly has small sow farms. On average, a farm in the German federal state has 240 animals. This is not in line with farms in the Netherlands and Denmark, because figures show that an average of 480 and 603 sows per farm were counted in these countries. These figures, however, date from 2013. According to Prigge, the ‘stopper threshold’ is ahead of small sow farmers much lower than in the larger farms. ‘German pig farmers clearly need peace of mind and predictability,’ concludes Prigge. 

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