Herstructurering van een bedrijf na brand in de kraamstal

Farm restructuring after a fire in the farrowing house

 

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PRESENTATION OF EARL RIOU

  • 220 productive sows
  • 5 droves
  • Goal: pigs without antibiotics 0 days
     
The importance of having good insurance

In consultation with his insurance company, Jérôme decided to depopulate the farm for health reasons while the farrowing house was being built. This solution was made possible by the gross margin loss cover that was agreed with his insurance company for a period of 24 months. This ensured that the payment by the insurance in the period ranging from September 2021 to December 2022 (the period corresponding to the last sale from before the disaster born porkers and the first sale of animals after the arrangement) is based on the results from before the loss and the current economic situation. Fabienne Carton of the economic department of Cooperl sends the current data every quarter to Groupama, the insurance company of the pig farmer.

 

The possibility to take a step forward

When the decision to depopulate was finally taken, Jérôme focused on the execution of his project. He had started the farm in 2010 and again had capacity to invest. After validating the project with an economic study, he decided to restructure the farm, which was ripe for an upgrade as well as rebuilding the farrowing department. The porkers where between the farrowing and piglet departments, the pregnant sows were distributed over the farm and there was no strict quarantine. As a result, a quarantine facility with two sections that each has 18 sow places were built in front of the covering shed, a section of the porker pens was renovated for the pregnant sows and a 1000 porker places were added too. Previously, slaughterhouse staff used the corridor in the piglet house to get to the loading dock. A new loading dock was also built for the porkers. The old storage room will stay to dispose of the depopulated animals. To conclude, the concrete post-weaning floors were replaced by honeycomb grids and the ceilings were adjusted to ensure greater comfort for the piglets.

 

Management of the pig stock is of paramount importance to guarantee the health of the pigs.

The first gilts were delivered on 1 December 2021, which meant that a sanitary vacuum of 11 weeks was possible. After the animals left, the manure pits were emptied, cleaned and disinfected as were the ceilings (fumigated with FUMAGRI OPP) before the gilts were delivered. The bottom of the manure pits were lower than that of the outlets and therefore Jérôme used the vacuum to level them and thus limit the deposit of manure in future. The repopulation was carried out by EARL Kerdy and GAEC Grande Tremblais, two porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) and Mycoplasma negative farms. They are in an area where there are many pigs, Jérôme and Dominique Kerloc'h Dagorn (Hyovet vet) therefore ensured the sanitary protocol was safe by vaccinating the gilts against PRRS, Mycoplasma, porcine parvovirus, circovirus, Lawsonia, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and neonatal diarrhea. The water pipes were also flushed and disinfected with Canal Clean and Nett Acid.

 

Going for a free farrowing pen: a self-evident choice for Jérôme

For Jérôme, it was the obvious choice! If a new farrowing house needed to be built, then it needed to be free farrowing pens. The construction of this house simply had to meet socially responsible expectations, a better comfort at work and a better performance.

They went with Calipro's new concept with free farrowing pens equipped with Nooyen's coated slatted floors with a movable sow slat (Balance) as an option. The pen measuring 2,800 x 2,700 mm has a total area of 7.6 m² and 4.12 m² in space available to the sow. To guarantee piglet comfort, piglet nests were installed with hot water heated floors and cover plates measuring 800 x 1,400 mm with a transparent inspection hatch.

The sleeved pipe around the sow box ensures infrared lamps are no longer required not even when giving birth; the heat under the sleeved pipe guides the piglets to the sow's teats. Both the floors and the sleeved pipe are supplied by a heat pump that, in turn, recovers the heat from the manure from the porkers (liquid manure heat recovery).

To ensure working conditions are as comfortable as possible, paths were laid at the front and rear of the sow boxes. A path runs right down the center of the farrowing house to shorten the walking distance for staff.

To align the feed with the individual sow and to maximize milk production, the SKIOLD Modulosec system was chosen linked to two feed lines.

 

Nooyen Vrijloop Frankrijk

 

Heat recovery from manure to limit energy costs

Due to the currently strongly rising energy costs, this restructuring was also an opportunity to invest in energy. Jérôme decided to use heat recovery from manure. Water pipes were laid underneath the manure site to recover the heat from the manure and take it to a heat pump. The heat is subsequently recovered through the floors and the sleeved pipes in the farrowing house and the Calopor Biomim in the post-weaning sections.

As you can see, the completion of the project of Jérôme has enabled him to comply with socially responsible expectations, improve working conditions at the farm, strengthen biosafety and prepare the farm's corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. We wish him all the best for the future.

      
       

Nooyen Vrijloop Frankrijk
Nooyen Vrijloop Frankrijk