Swine Research Farm Raalte is an integrated, organic pig farm with 100 sows. The farm has a section for sows and piglets and a section for finishing pigs. A three-week rotation system is used, with groups of 12 sows each.
The section for sows and piglets consists of:
- 7 farrowing units, each with 6 farrowing pens;
- 2 sections for weaners, each with 8 pens;
- a weaned sows section;
- a pregnant sows section and
- a section for gilts.
The section for finishing pigs consists of:
- 3 pre-finishing units, each with 2 pens;
- 4 sections for finishing pigs: 3 with 8 pens and 1 with 4 pens.
Read more about the various sections and view the floor plans of the buildings.
Background
The two new barns were built in order to investigate various bottlenecks in organic pig farming. The existing, transitioning and new organic pig farms still encounter many problems in their daily operational management. These include problems in barn and pen design, nutrition, animal health care, farm hygiene, outdoor runs and pasturing.
Aim
The new buildings are used to test whether a farm design is feasible according to organic farming regulations and determine the bottlenecks and uncertainties. Attention is paid to working conditions, which are generally more demanding than in conventional pig farming. This is due, for example, to the use of straw, which leads to more dust in the buildings, but it is also due to the fluctuating climate conditions inside and outside the buildings where organic pig farmers work.
Project Barn Pigs in ComfortClass
The ComfortClass barn is a project barn for conventional finishing pigs. In this building, finishing pigs are housed according to a new concept based on the welfare of the pig.
Read more at www.comfortclass.nl.
Ongoing research 2008
- Reduced protein in organic pig feed during the winter: effects on technical results, carcass quality and feed costs
- Piglet mortality in the organic farrowing pen
- Outdoor runs for organic finishing pigs
- Organic farming research