Croatian Minister Opens New EU-standard Pig Unit

CROATIA - Zdravko Škarec, a committed and innovative farmer from Polonje, Croatia, has his sights set on the European Union.
calendar icon 26 February 2008
clock icon 3 minute read
Zdravko Škarec's new 1,120-pig finishing farm at Polonje, Croatia. It complies with EU specifications for pig production.

He has recently extended his business by building two new 560-place finishing houses - both of comply with EU regulations governing pig production.

The investment in the business has been substantial - the key focus being the likely the accession of Croatia into the European Union within the next two years. He has brought his entire farm in line with EU standards for pig welfare, including adequate space allowances per pig, suitable flooring and other EU food chain requirements.

And these two state-of-the-art pig finishing houses puts him in a good position to take the business forward and benefit from improvements to performance and productivity.

The pig farm, located 40 km North East of Zagreb, rears pigs from 25kg to 110kg liveweight using an all-in/all-out system. The finished pigs are sold on the open market, which is a typical arrangement for Croatian producers.

Honoured Opening

Zdravko Škarec (left) and agricultural minister Petar Cobankovic (right) cut the ribbon in Croatian national colours.

Mr Škarec celebrated the inauguration of his new buildings with an open day. Guest of honour was Petar Cobankovic Croatia's agricultural minister, who officially opened the site.

The finishing houses, which were designed, fitted and supplied by German housing specialist Big Dutchman, will accommodate Mr Škarec's total production. The fully slatted system incorporates the latest feeding technology.

All the pens, 16 per building, are equipped with Big Dutchman's successful PigNic feeder. This automatic dry feed system uses a high-performance Dry Rapid tube conveyor to transport feed automatically from the feed silos, positioned outside the buildings, to the hoppers located in every pen.

Each new building has 16 pens. They are environemntally controlled and use the PigNic automatic feeding system.

The system is efficient, with high-capacity and low-loss characteristics, which minimises feed waste on delivery, says the company.

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