Pigs an English highway attraction

Monday, December 6, 2010

The biggest cost for third-generation pig farmer Andrew Haag as he starts an outdoor unit for 750 sows at Caistor St Edmund, near Norwich in eastern England, is piping water to the sows.

Online local business publication EDP 24 says the 80-acre farm draws a lot of attention because it is within sight of a highway overpass and thousands of motorists. Haag already finishes 170 pigs a week at another farm and sells the pork to the Morrisons grocery chain.

He's hoping the high visibility of his operation will be good for local business because consumers like to see pigs outdoors. He plans to sell finished hogs to local butchers. An advantage from a biosecurity point of view is that there are no other pig herds nearby.

The farm is on light soil overlaying gravel. The farm is rented and pigs will be on that location for only two years before the property is returned to the landlord in a well-fertilized state. The pigs and pipes have been moved 25 miles from a previous location.

The sows are kept in groups. A week before birthing, they are walked to individual farrowing pens and the energy in their diets is ramped up. Haag says this makes the baby pigs stronger. BP