New Pig Housing for Polish Family Farm

Looking at the situation in the Polish agriculture, it is likely that only few farmers will decide to make new investments to increase production.
calendar icon 11 January 2008
clock icon 4 minute read

However, some of them are willing to take the risk and often with great success.

One such farm belongs to Iwona and Andrzej Olejniczak, who, together with their daughter Dorota, built a house for 2,000 finishing pigs in Dabkowice near Kutno in central Poland three years ago. Recently, they have introduced another house for 400 sows.

The Olejniczak farm's new pig housing.

Co-operation

The Olejniczak family owns 85 hectares of land. They mainly grow maize for grain feed (50 hectares) as well as rape, which is sold to a factory for cooking oil.

In cooperation with Hodowla Roslin Strzelce Sp z o.o. they grow oats and wheat, which are used as seeds. Their investment in the houses allowed the Olejniczak family last year to produce 7,200 finishing pigs with a 57.3 per cent average meat yield.

A large number of people attended the inauguration of the new sow house, Among them were representatives of the companies who had been involved with the project, along with members of the local government.

The group housing system on the Olejniczaks' farm.

The new building can accommodate 400 sows, from between 30 and 100 kg liveweight, as well as six boars. Sows are all inseminated using artificial insemination and the gilt replacements are homebred.

The farm is managed on a three week cycle. Piglets stay with the sows for 28 days before moving into the rearing area for six weeks, post-weaning. The aim is to produce 3,000 pigs a year.

Plans

The Olejniczak family started planning the new sow house last year and Big Dutchman and sales partner of the German equipment supplier for Poland, Jan Doliasz, were appointed to supply equipment and construct the project.

The project was underway quickly and the house was ready to house the herd within four weeks.

The farrowing area in the new pig housing.

The fully slatted accommodation measures 30 metres x 70 metres. It comprises a farrowing and rearing area, a service centre, separate boar pens, a rest room for the employees and a laboratory and heating facilities.

The house is divided into two areas. On the left side is the service centre and the pens for gestating sows; and on the right side is the farrowing area and rearing pens.

The rearing area in the new pig housing.

In total, the house has 48 farrowing pens, with one compartment of eight pens as a reserve. Heating plates are integrated into the plastic slatted floors. The warmth is supplied using hot water and ensures a uniform distribution of heat.

Automatic

The building is ventilated using a Diff-Air ceiling, which lets fresh air enter the house. The Big Dutchman MC 135 climate computer controls the environment and temperature. The feeding system is also fully automatic through volume dispensers fitted to every pen.

In the rearing area, there are two compartments with 12 pens, each holding 40 piglets. The area can accommodate a total of 960 piglets. The system has PigNic automatic feeders that are filled using the computer-controlled DR 850 feeding system. Feed is automatically transported from feed bins to the feeders and ensures stocks are always replenished.

The farrowing area and sow pens are also equipped with a cooling system, that allows sows to reduce the temperature by up to 5 degrees C. Again, a Diff-Air ceiling system is used to bring in fresh air in the farrowing area, while CL 600 exhaust air chimneys are installed across the entire house to expel stale air.

This is an abstract of the article and the pictures published in the January issue of the Polish magazine "Trzoda Chlewna" ("Pigs") www.trzoda-chlewna.com.pl.

January 2008
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