FARM VISIT ▶▶▶
One yellow light can make the difference
In recent years, Spain has overtaken Germany as the largest pig country in Europe. It’s not just numbers that make the difference but also the new methods of thought and technological advances that have emerged. For instance, Albesa Ramadera farm near Lleida are aiming to combine welfare with sustainability, efficiency and transparency.
Profile
Name: Joan Sanmartín Suñer Function: Founder and manager of OPP, which owns Albesa
Ramadera farm, Spain Farm: Albesa Ramadera farm is a 3,310 sow farrow-to-wean facil-
ity, built in 2009 with a special mission. It aims to be an exemplary farm in more than one way. In order to receive visitors from com- panies and universities, the farm is equipped with a viewing gallery and has been designed to include various future-proof approaches and technical innovative strategies. Production-wise, the farm is part of the Costa integration, which chose for a non-hyperprolific line, to favour meat quality, using Duroc and Landrace genetics in the sow line. The farm therefore weans 28 pigs/sow/year. Feed is also supplied by Costa – and will typi- cally contain a mix of protein concentrates, vitamins and min- erals and grains such as barley. Lactating sows receive liquid rations.
C BY VINCENT TER BEEK, EDITOR, PIG PROGRESS
ristina Sanmartín Ruíz picks up a brown spotted piglet from the lactation pen. It squeals a bit in pro- test. Her colleague Laia Calderó Puig is quick and places an injector needle at the piglet’s neck. One
shot, one yellow light inside the injector and one red mark on the back later, the animal is released to rejoin its littermates. Another animal protected against Porcine Circovirus, type 2. The entire procedure only takes a few seconds. Does that all sound familiar? No doubt virtually every aspect is common practice for veterinarians and pig farmers. Except… perhaps for that yellow light? Yet that light is part of the rea- son for this visit. The answer as to its origins and significance can be found in Lleida, Spain, at the headquarters of the OPP Group – a (veterinary) consultancy company in Catalonia, in the heart of the country’s pig production business.
Albesa Ramadera farm
OPP Group owns Albesa Ramadera farm, where the vaccina- tion described above took place. The farm, close to Lleida, northern Spain, is an initiative that came to life in 2009 when OPP founder and CEO Joan Sanmartín Suñer decided to put his money where his mouth is. Quite often the veterinarian advised farmers about the importance of concepts like trace- ability, transparency and welfare – and often the reaction he received was: ‘why don’t you try it yourself?’ Dr Sanmartín explains, “OPP is short for ‘Optimal Pork Pro- duction’. The word ‘pork’ in there is on purpose – we don’t mean to write ‘Pig’ in this abbreviation. Because I feel we are not producers of pigs, but we are part of the end product in the supermarket. I’m convinced that the consumer of the fu- ture will increasingly choose on the basis of production sys- tem that is used. You can compare it to good restaurants will- ing to work with an open kitchen, showing the cooking. A similar kind of transparency is going to totally change the pig industry of the future.” Dr Sanmartín speaks of ‘pioneering work’, when describing the construction of Albesa Ramadera – aimed at demonstrat- ing how transparency and welfare can be combined with ef- ficiency and productivity. He says, “We did not want to build a traditional farm. We wanted to be able to invite people, to allow them to give in-house trainings. It was a move to a different level.”
20 ▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 35, No. 9, 2019
PHOTOS: VINCENT TER BEEK
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