The future of outdoor pigs...
UK - Pictured below are Suffolk producer David Robinson and BQP's Rob Bamford, both of whom are involved in work to make outdoor pigs as environmentally friendly as they already are welfare friendly
NPA is active on members' behalf in Brussels & Whitehall, and with processors, supermarkets & caterers - fighting for the growth and pros-perity of the UK pig industry. |
It will be three years before the project is completed, by which time there should be enough information for a bullet-point best-practice guide for keeping outdoor pigs. This guide could be crucial to the future of outdoor production.
But producers won't have to wait that long to find out how the research is progressing. Bearing in mind the considerable interest in this subject - prompted in part by the cross-compliance good-agricultutural-condition rules - we will be following progress of the work in Pig World and on the NPA website.
Reporting on the project in this way will allow producers to try out some of the ideas themselves (if they wish) and will demonstrate how to effectively communicate new techniques to the industry.
In the picture below David shows his cheap-and-cheerful "weeble wobble" feeder for preventing feed wastage. The lip is just the right height to contain the feed, without giving the sows sufficient purchase to pull it off. The concrete in the base ensures that however boisterously the feeder is treated, it will always spring back into an upright position.
Our first report will be in October and will consider the question of latrines.
Source: National Pig Association - 22nd September 2004