Better Pork - February 2005
Adding oregano to the feed spices up piglet performance
Swiss researchers have found that that oregano oil reduced piglet deaths by as much as 72 per cent and boosted average liveweight gain by up to 20 grams per dayby NORMAN DUNN
Finding methods of stopping deadly piglet diarrhea without using conventional antibiotics has led Swiss scientists to look into the realms of folk-medicine. It has long been accepted that etheric oil from the oregano herb has a fairly strong antimicrobial effect and there are claims that the oil is especially effective against killer E. coli.
REDUCED LOSSES WITH HERB SUPPLEMENT
(Trial results recorded over first three weeks post-weaning)No oregano oil in feed 1,000 ppm oregano oil 2,000 ppm oregano oil 3,000 ppm oregano oil Daily liveweight gain (g) 237 242 258 258 Feed conversion ration (1: ) 1.91 1.87 1.87 1.84 Mortality rate (%) 3.65 1.97 0.98 0.97 Commercial name of the oregano oil supplement: Oregpig.
Table courtesy of Swiss Research Centre, Dübendorf.To try out the treatment in a realistic commercial environment, Swiss researchers set up trials on a 2,400-sow Hungarian breeding unit. They found that oregano oil reduced piglet deaths by as much as 72 per cent and boosted average liveweight gain by up to 20 grams per day.
DENMARK'S NEW SOW SELECTION FOR BREEDING STOCK Former selection weighting (%) New selection weighting (%) Litter size at birth 30 - Living piglets at five days - 70 Feed conversion ratio of offspring 20 10 Carcass muscle content 16 6 Conformation 13 8 Daily liveweight gain birth to 30 kg 5 4 Daily liveweight gain 30-100 kg 11 1 Meat pH 5 - Killing out percentage - 1 Recording was over the first three weeks after four-week weaning. Four groups totalling 2,500 weaners were involved, one group with no oregano oil in the feed and the remaining groups with 1,000 ppm, 2,000 ppm and 3,000 ppm respectively.
The main feed was a standard commercial grower ration. A surprising effect of the added oregano was that it appeared to significantly increase feed conversion efficiency. While the control group of piglets averaged one kilogram of liveweight gain for every 1.91 kilos of feed, the highest inclusion rate of oregano gave a conversion ratio of 1:1.84.
The weaners in the control group returned an average daily liveweight gain over three weeks of 237 grams, while the group with the highest inclusion rate of oregano oil averaged 258 grams. Death rate was high over the same period for the animals on the control diet, at 3.65 per cent, but both the 2,000 ppm and 3,000 ppm groups returned an average mortality of 0.98 and 0.97 per cent. BP
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Danes aim for breeding improvements, but is the target the right one?
by Norman Dunn
One of the world's largest pork exporting nations has revised its breeding sow selection criteria. Denmark is the country, and some of its swine breeding experts say the road towards an annual production of 30 hogs per sow has to be based on more than just big litters.
This is why the country's advisers are currently rewriting the rulebook to include a new selection benchmark: the number of live piglets in each litter at five days.
According to the Danish breeding program Danzucht, "General fertility in sows is, of course, still very important. But we are changing the emphasis now so that we're counting production a few days after farrowing. We want sows that can bring as many young hogs as possible through the critical first few days of life. Some 90 per cent of all losses occur during that period, and these deaths are often caused directly or indirectly by the mother."
Before, the size of litter at birth was weighted to represent 30 per cent of selection criteria, other large influences being feed conversion efficiency (20 per cent), carcass muscle content (16 per cent) and conformation points such as legs, teat placing and ham development (13 per cent).
From now on, litter size at birth will no longer be involved in the selection criteria. The number of living piglets at five days has taken over completely with a massive 70 per cent of selection weighting. Feed conversion efficiency is reduced to 10 per cent, conformation to eight per cent and carcass muscle content to six per cent.
Not everyone is convinced by this new approach for selection, however. Breeding experts are already pointing out that there are many environmental factors involved in piglet survival rate in the early days -- and comparatively little genetic influence. In fact, even the size of the litter is just a 10 per cent heritability factor.
All these aspects mean that any improvement in performance under the new regime could turn out to be very slow. The new selection criteria have already been labelled by some as an overreaction to the comparatively high litter mortality figures in many farms over recent years in Denmark.BP
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Using compressed air for high-efficiency manure separation
by NORMAN DUNN
No moving mechanical parts but instead only compressed air is being used for high-efficiency manure separation in the new "TowerFilter" system currently under testing by German manufacturers Weda-Dammann & Westerkamp.
The TowerFilter involves a perpendicular metal pipe up to four metres high. Inside the tower, a fine-mesh filter tube runs from top to bottom, surrounded by a number of inflatable compressed air tubes. In a continuous, computer-controlled process, liquid manure is pumped through the filter tube from top to bottom. At the same time, the surrounding pressure tubes are inflated up to three 3 bar pressure and this action forces the liquid through the walls of the filter tube, whence it is run off into a holding tank.
The solids are progressively fed out from the bottom of the tube. To aid separation efficiency, flocculant and coagulant liquids are mixed with the slurry in a special tank before the separation action. For higher dry matter material, the pressure tubes can be compressed and emptied in sequence to give a rhythmic squeezing action, which Weda claims is even more efficient at forcing liquid out of the manure.
Trials at the Sterksel Centre for Innovative Pig Farming in the Netherlands have indicated that the filter retains at least 95 per cent of all organic material. Also retained within the tube, according to the Dutch results, are 99 per cent of phosphate and 50 per cent of the manure N content.
The TowerFilter tested in the Netherlands was able to separate an average 12 cubic metres of 5.2 per cent dry matter hog manure per day. The system, complete with mixing tank, pump, TowerFilter and solids removal system, costs the equivalent of $56,000 Cdn. Running at full capacity, this led to fixed costs of $2.70 per tonne of treated manure and variable costs of $5.58 per tonne of manure. A smaller model with about half the throughput of the above system is also being developed by Weda.BP
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Free-range pork by post
By NORMAN DUNN
Internet marketing and direct postal deliveries to customers have boosted business for a free-range pork producer in Suffolk in eastern England. The innovative farmer reckons that changing to these modern sales methods has increased his returns per carcass by up to four times compared with conventional processor prices.Admittedly, Jimmy Butler services a niche market, selling pork from hogs that are reared and fattened out in the fields. But his system has low capital requirements and a bigger margin at the end of the day, he feels.
Instead of sending his hogs to a processor when they reach slaughterweight of 105 kilos, Jimmy Butler contracts small private businesses to do his slaughtering and jointing. A uniform selection of cuts and joints plus sausages, burgers and mince is loaded into each 8.5-kilo box for shipment. Gross income for each carcass was the equivalent of $750 Cdn this summer.
His 1,200 sows are run outside on 120 acres of pasture with another 75 acres used to rear replacement gilts. Financial support totalling some $23,000 Cdn from a partly state-owned meat promotion organization in Britain allowed Jimmy Butler to research and develop his pork production company's Internet presence and establish a sales network.
Customers claim the Butler pork products have a unique taste and the farmer reckons this is because his hogs stay outside right up to slaughter. "Each group of 80 feeders has about an acre of space and they often gallop around the paddocks like miniature racehorses. I'm sure this contributes to the muscle development and tenderness of the meat," he says.
The breed of hog adds to the flavour, he says. JSR Cotswold Gold sows comprise a blend of lines, including traditional breeds, specially bred to thrive under outdoor conditions. The hogs feed on grass and farm-grown cereals with no added antibiotics or growth promoters.
Weight gain is about 20 per cent slower than under normal commercial conditions and Butler feels this contributes to the juiciness and flavour of the meat.BP
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Air leakage during cold spells can compromise your barn
Your pigs may suffer drafty chills and the pen will lose its air pattern if you do not deal with leaks around the air inlet, fans, joints and entrancesby RON MACDONALD
A common complaint in barns is the inability of the ventilation system to function properly during cold weather. During cold spells, the fan system slows down to a minimum ventilation rate. When this occurs, the air inlets must be set up properly and there should be a minimum of leakage, or air quality in the barn will deteriorate.Poor air quality is usually evidenced by stuffy, stale air zones; cold, drafty areas; temperature gradient from end to end and floor to ceiling in the barn; and, of course, poorly performing pigs.
The principle of air distribution remains the same, whether the fans are all on or simply the minimum ventilation fan. There must be adequate negative pressure as measured on a static pressure manometer. If the pressure in the room is too low, the fresh, cold incoming air will simply drop out of the air inlet and lazily drift to the floor.
Quite often, this will be the designated resting area for the pigs, which will consequently suffer drafty chills. At the same time, the pen will have lost its air pattern, essential in ensuring that no stale air zones develop and fresh air is delivered throughout the pen.
Moreover, air infiltration into the barn from locations other than the air inlet during cold weather can affect energy and ventilation system efficiency and compromise control.
The following are reasons why barn ventilation systems may not perform to the level they should during cold weather:
Accordingly, all possible leakage areas should be evaluated with smoke pencils and sealed as much as possible. Regular inspection of the joint sealant is also important on account of wear and tear from pressure washing. The benefits to the ventilation system will be well worth the effort. Why spend all that time and money on a system that cannot work?BP
- There is no static pressure manometer reading the pressure from the attic (or duct, if one is present) to the inside of the room. Target pressure in the winter is 0.05-0.08 inches water column and the higher the better. Without a static manometer, it is impossible to adjust air inlet settings (both self-adjusting and actuator-controlled) properly. See Figure 1.
- The air inlet is not sealed at the joint from the ceiling to the inlet housing.
- There are leaks from the sides or even the back of the air inlet during low flow time periods. When minimum ventilation occurs, air inlets are closed quite a bit. In some cases, the side air leakage can exceed the air emitted from the front of the inlet. See Figure 2.
- The joint from the stud wall to the sill plate and ceiling or wall sheathing joints leaks. This can be as much as 50 per cent of the total air flow into a room considered "tight." Clearly, leaky ones can have an even greater impact. See Figure 3.
- The door to the common service hallway has a poor seal around the jamb and no sweep seal on the floor opening.
- There is backflow from leaky shutters on fans. Summer fans should have insulated covers placed as soon as practical in the fall.
Ron MacDonald, P. Eng,. and Mark Armstrong, P.Eng., are agricultural engineers with Agviro Inc. in Guelph.
Acknowledgement:
Parts of this article were extracted from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food's fact sheet: Safety Features Around Liquid Manure Storages, Agdex 743.
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Ontario Pork and 3P duke it out over contracts
The pork board wants more powers to enforce contracts, while Progressive Pork Producers Co-op seeks an exemption. Other processors remain silentby DON STONEMAN
Ontario Pork wants more say in contracts between pork producers and packers. But one packer wants Ontario Pork to butt out entirely.Under provincial legislation, Ontario Pork acts as a third party intermediary on all pork contracts between producers and packers. Ontario Pork, says chair Larry Skinner, wants more teeth in the protocols and procedures developed in 1999 and 2000 and a stronger hand in contracts. Skinner says processors shouldn't be adding clauses to contracts that increase producer costs without compensation, a concern that he says will likely grow as packers seek to differentiate their product.
He cites Maple Leaf Pork's demand in 2003 that all hogs be marketed without meat and bone meal. Initially, Ontario Pork passed a regulation to enforce the ban on all Ontario hogs, then rescinded it in 2004. Opposing Ontario Pork's position on contracts is Progressive Pork Producers Co-operative Inc. (3P), which owns the former Conestoga Meat Packers in Kitchener. The co-op wants an exemption from the contract rule, which is mandated under provincial legislation.
"We don't think that Ontario Pork adds value in our case," says director Bob Hunsberger of Breslau. The co-op only buys from its members and consults with them first before pricing changes are made. "If Ontario Pork can't succeed by superior performance, they should not succeed by force of law," adds Hunsberger. "I've been saying that since 1985."
Other packers have not explained their position to Better Pork on Ontario Pork's role in scrutinizing contracts. Don Davidson, vice-president of business development, government and industry affairs for Maple Leaf Pork, would not comment while talks with Ontario Pork were under way. Quality Meat Packers did not reply to a request for an interview by deadline.
Jarvis producer Harry Stam, a former Ontario Pork director who contracts to Quality Meat Packers, also thinks Ontario Pork should get out of the contracting business. "I don't think (Ontario Pork) has anything at stake in my operation," he says. If a contract between a producer and a processor is changed by Ontario Pork, "I think that is an impediment to trade and I don't think that is a role that Ontario Pork needs to take."
Ontario Pork couldn't help producers when Maple Leaf was "ratcheting down" contracts in the fall of 2003, notes Stam. "I didn't hear Ontario Pork doing much to get producers back up to where they should be."
Not surprisingly, Skinner disagrees with his former board member. "If there was a shortage of hogs in relation to shackle space, individual producers could probably negotiate a real good price" and a bonuses for doing extra things to the pigs, he says. When there are too many hogs, however, "there is a complete absence of collective ability to drive value for producers."
Skinner believes that packers over-reacted to baseless concerns from overseas buyers when the BSE crisis struck the beef industry. A study commissioned by Ontario Pork two years ago found that the ban on meat and bone meal in Europe cost between $3 and $20 a hog. Skinner says the meat and bone meal issue two years ago is the tip of "the larger issue relating to farm practices in general." Size of dry sow stalls may be next, along with environmental standards.
And then there is the matter of Paylean, approved for use in the United States and likely soon to be approved here. Paylean is reported to decrease feed costs by $2-3 per hog. If an exporter asserts that it is advantageous from a meat marketing point of view not to use it, what does that cost me? Skinner asks. "If there is incremental value associated (with it), then let's find a way to distribute that value fairly along the chain. If not, then why should we as producers buy into it?"
Producers, he argues, "are moving into a whole different era" in dealing with contracts with processors. "More specific and far-reaching demands from processors are going to create additional costs on the farm. There needs to be some kind of structure so that producers can get adequate compensation for being part of that value chain."
The issue isn't simple. There is a constant conflict between low cost production and differentiated production, Skinner admits. Ontario exports half of its pork, so this makes the production mix more complex. Still, he asserts, "We don't want to price ourselves out of the market."
Yet while 3P and Ontario Pork may disagree over contracts, they aren't at each other's throats by any means. Hunsberger stresses that 3P still has much in common with Ontario Pork. "I think that our members and Ontario Pork's main supporters are the same type of producers." And while some critics have said that Ontario Pork isn't in tune with today's hog production methods, "we don't feel that way." The organization has much to offer in terms of product promotion and hog marketing expertise.
Still, Hunsberger questions the value of having Ontario Pork scrutinize 3P contracts. Its members invested approximately $20 million in the co-op's processing plant "without any input from Ontario Pork. If members can make their own decisions about investing that type of money, then what would Ontario Pork add in terms of fine detail on the contract?"
However, Skinner says it is "extremely important" that Ontario Pork remain a signatory to producer-processor contracts and that its scrutiny be more than just a "rubber stamp." Ontario Pork ensures that contracts are written according to the protocols and procedures and also that they comply with the Farm Products Marketing Act. "It protects producers' interests," Skinner says.
Producers still not happy
A brief history of contracting: Until the early 1990s, the Ontario Pork Producers Marketing Board marketed hogs and set prices through an auction system. Under pressure from processors, formula pricing was implemented and direct contracting between producers and processors was permitted in February of 1992.Processors were still unhappy. In late 1995, the Farm Products Marketing Commission (FPMC) ordered Ontario Pork to set up procedures to facilitate contracting. Principles were incorporated into a protocols and procedures document.
Following the collapse of hog prices in 1998, Ontario Pork received complaints from producers concerning unequal contract offering prices, inability to access certain arrangements, and a general lack of transparency and control over the buy-sell process. The current supply agreement, protocols and procedures were brought into place in October of 2000. Ontario Pork says producers still aren't happy and concludes that the guideline does not meet the ongoing needs of producers.
"I don't think that we will throw everything out," Skinner says. "I think we will come up with an agreement that is acceptable. We want to make sure that producers are treated fairly and that the industry has a chance to be successful."
Last month, Ontario Pork got some positive news on its authority to market hogs. The Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Tribunal dismissed an appeal launched by Zantingh Direct to be able to sell hogs outside of Ontario Pork's weight range. The Tribunal's decision reinforces Ontario Pork's authority as the sole marketer of market-weight hogs in Ontario, says the board.
Does Ontario Pork need to be a signatory to contracts? "Absolutely. There can be abuse of the industry," says Will Nap of Thornton, a former Ontario Pork chair who took on processors in 1999 and 2000. He cites the meat and bone meal issue as an example.
"It led the whole industry up a wrong path. I was disgusted about that. I think niche marketing is something that we should aim for" but the whole Ontario industry doesn't have to go along, Naps says. "It reduced choices unnecessarily. Other jurisdictions and other processors didn't feel the need to have that clause in their contracts."
The board needs to be even stronger in enforcing contracts, Nap says. In the fall of 2003, processors didn't process all their contracts and it put a strain on producers who weren't on contracts. Pigs backed up, some were marketed under penalty and others were marketed under the board system, which strained that system. Finding new markets "comes at a cost," Nap says. "Processors have to understand that it works both ways. Producers have to supply the hogs, but they have to slaughter them."
The board may no longer be deemed to have the authority to market all the hogs in Ontario. The order from the FPMC to the board made it clear that they are in charge of all hog marketings. Things can happen outside of Ontario's Pork's knowledge if it is not a signatory.
"I think the board screwed up on the meat and bone meal issue. Certainly, it reacted to processor pressure," Nap says." He thinks the board has to be tougher. "They have to take more charge of contracts than they have." There should be penalty clauses for non-performance and the board, being a signatory, could enforce those. "Those clauses need to be enforced, regardless of the consequences."
Nap admits that the procedures and protocols developed in 2000 were not as strong as he would have liked to have seen. The pork industry crisis of 1998 and 1999 took precedence. Now processors want to include clauses at their whim and the protocols and procedures aren't strong enough to prevent that now.
Should 3P get special treatment? "We had those issues back with Bruce Packers," Nap says. "If you start excluding 3P, then I think that you have to exclude all contracts."
Nap calls 3P's view on contracts "shortsighted." He notes that, in the December issue of Better Pork, Hunsberger said 3P shouldn't have to pay fees to cover duties for exported pigs because it had set up its own plant so that it could kill its members' pigs.
Before the plant at Conestoga opened, Nap says, 3P was shipping pigs to be processed at Thorn Apple Valley in Michigan. If a trade action against Canadian live pigs had been taken then, Nap says, 3P pigs would have been subject "to all kinds of duties."BP
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Henrik Jensen's recipe for breaking through the 30-weaned-pig-per-year plateau
This Danish farmer has succeeded in producing 30-plus pigs per sow per year by carefully applied breeding strategies combined with clearly defined management routines, a well-trained and proficient staff and clear targets that are regularly compared with actual performanceby DON STONEMAN
Pig production is taken seriously in Denmark. There, in a space equivalent to five or six per cent of the land mass of Ontario, just over 11,000 producers out of a population of 5.2 million people farrow about 1.3 million gilts and produce 24 million pigs annually.Henrik Jensen, a weaner producer who farms in Christiansminde on the island of Svendborg, is one of about 15 or so producers in Denmark weaning 30 pigs or more per sow. He sells 34,000 30-kilogram weaners per year from the 1,150-sow unit he owns jointly with a silent partner. In 2002, production surpassed 30 pigs per sow per year from his operation and, in recent months, weaned pig production reached the equivalent of 32.
Recently, Jensen toured across Canada talking about his production system. Here are his guidelines for producing 30 plus pigs per sow per year.
Growing gilts larger is probably the most important part of the management system. "If you don't breed the gilts later, don't even bother trying the rest," says Bernie Peet, marketing and technical services manager for Danbred North America.
- Use gilts and sows that are genetically capable of high litter size.
- Breed gilts later than is customary; he cites a weight of 160 kilograms and nine months of age.
- Control boar exposure and use the "surprise effect" (ED readers now what that is?) at insemination.
- Use a team breeding approach to insemination. All sows in one group are bred in approximately 15 minutes on a particular morning of the week.
- Quickly identify return breeders and not-in-pig females.
- Feed a high energy diet for 28 days after breeding and from day 90 of gestation.
- Closely monitor farrowing to minimize stillbirths.
- Split suckling to ensure all piglets get colostrum.
- Extend lactation length for gilts to 30-35 days, using cross-fostered piglets.
- Use extensive fostering to minimize pre-weaning mortality.
- Maintain high sow feed intakes during lactation.
If gilts are smaller, they can't eat as much as a big gilt can, Jensen explains. He doesn't use hormones to induce heat, nor does he use them to ease birthing.
BREEDING HERD RESULTS TO END OF SEPTEMBER 2004 3 months 12 months Average # sows & bred gilts 1,180 1,180 Average # pigs born alive/litter 14.3 14.0 Average # pigs bon dead/litter 1.6 1.5 Pre-wean mortality (%) 8.8 10.6 Average # pigs weaned/litter 13.0 12.5 Per cent return services 4.4 4.1 Non-productive days per litter 8.0 10.0 Average lactation length (days) 24 25 Farrowing percentage 92.8 90.6 Litters/sow/year 2.46 2.43 Pigs weaned/sow/year 32.1 30.5
LITTER SIZE BY PARITY - 12 MONTHS TO END OF SEPTEMBER 2004 Born alive Born dead Total born Gilt 13.4 1.3 14.7 2 14.5 1.2 15.7 3 14.9 1.6 16.5 4 14.5 1.7 16.2 5 14.1 1.5 15.6 6 13.7 1.9 15.7 7 13.3 2.1 15.4 8 14.4 2.2 16.6 Jensen buys gilts from the same multiplier every nine weeks. They are quarantined for eight weeks in group pens on the nursery site, then put in stalls and heat checked daily, with no boars present. Gilts are marked with the breeding week colour at heat -- red, green and blue -- and are moved to the breeding unit seven days before their next heat. Farrowing is watched closely to minimize stillbirths. Suckling is split to ensure that the smallest piglets get at sows' teats first.
Here's how Jensen explains his weaning procedures. Piglets are removed at the sows' morning feeding on Wednesday. Sows are left in the crate and receive midday feed, then are moved to the breeding area on Thursday morning. The weaned sows get no feed until noon on Friday, when they get about eight kilograms each. They get 5.6 kilos of feed on Saturday and are fed to appetite on Sunday.
Continuous boar contact is provided Thursday mid-day to Sunday afternoon. Insemination is carried out on Monday and Tuesday with inseminations timed 24 hours apart. Sows that don't stand well, or where backflow occurs, are inseminated again eight to 12 hours later, then again after another 12 hours. A catheter is left in the sow after insemination and a new boar is placed in front of the sows.
The key objective is to minimize not-in-pig days, Jensen stresses. After breeding, a heat check is performed every day from breeding until sows leave the breeding area after four weeks. Each week, 36 sows are placed in group pens with individual feeders. Thin and fat sows move to gestation stalls. Thinner sows get 2.2-2.5 kilograms of feed per day, while good sows get 1.8-2 kilos of feed and "fit" sows receive a reduced diet of 1.5 kilos.
Lactation time for gilts is extended by using them as foster mothers after their own piglets are weaned. Longer lactation allows for better recovery by the uterus, explains Jensen, and results in more pigs per litter in the second and subsequent litters.
A whole litter of large piglets, five to seven days old, is fostered onto a gilt. When fostering is complete, she has 13 large piglets. The five-to-seven-day farrowed sow is fostered with surplus newborn piglets. Foster sows are normally second and third parity and their lactation length will be extended by 3-5 days.
There is a nursery room at the breeding unit and it is used as a buffer to keep pigs moving to the main nursery in a constant stream. Sows are weaned on Mondays and their pigs go to the breeding unit nursery. The smallest pigs at weaning are also moved to the nursery and are fed five times a day.
Gilts are never culled for litter size, Jensen says. From second parity onwards, sows are culled if litter size is lower than for gilts. Second-litter sows must have a minimum of 13 piglets or they are culled, as are sows that fail to show estrus 21 days after weaning, sows that show discharge at first return, return twice, or abort. Very few sows are culled because of foot and leg problems.
Jensen provides consulting services for other farms and says that the highest performing farms have clearly defined management routines for the key tasks, extensive and accurate systems of recording and pig identification, and clear targets that are regularly compared with actual performance.
Other keys to success include a well-trained and technically proficient staff, a manager or owner who is a good leader and motivator, and a team of workers totally committed to the goals of the business.
Jensen's pigs have a high health status but are mycoplasma-positive. Danish law requires farmers to have sows in loose pens for four weeks after breeding in new barns built after 2000.
Jensen says there are four workers in the barn and the tasks that are required are clearly defined. Pigs that need fostering are identified every day. Staff talk informally about meeting goals and there is a formal staff meeting every week.
The rewards for this? If production goals are met, Jensen takes the staff on a monthly social outing. There are no financial bonuses yet, but "it's coming," Jensen says. Barn staff work 37.5 hour weeks, which is the standard in Denmark. The manager works 42 hours. The European standard is five weeks holidays per year. Holidays aren't a labour issue he told Better Pork, just another challenge to meet. "We don't have a problem getting good people," he says.
One more pig per sow is worth $55,000 a year in added income, he points out. "You have to spend a little bit of money to make some more."
Jensen's next project may be to build another 1,150-sow unit or he may build a finishing barn, perhaps in Poland. Poland is a concern now that it has joined the EEC, Jensen says, noting that he would find it difficult to compete against the East European nation if barn workers there are paid 6,000 euros a year while his are paid 30,000 euros. BP
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