MANAGEMENT ▶▶▶
Finnish pigs receiving feed from the farm
The EU PiG Innovation Group aims to raise the competitiveness of the European pig industry by connecting producers and sharing tried and tested best practices. In this edition: the pigs in Finland’s Rapeseed Pork programme.
BY NATALIE BERKHOUT, CORRESPONDENT
The Ambassador Matti Ropilo, owner of MTY Alakukku farm in Vampula, Fin- land. The farm has a production agreement with the company HKScan, to which the Rypsiporsas pork brand belongs. The farm buys piglets from HKScan and then, after the finishing period, pigs are sold back to the company for slaughter.
The innovation Rypsiporsas is Finnish for “Rapeseed Pork”. Winning in the cate- gory “Precision production”, Rypsiporsas pigs are raised free of antibiotics and are fed homemade feed. “We produce meat al- most totally with our own grains that we harvest from our own fields near the farm. Our farm prevents environmental load to the water system with 4 hectares of buffer strips on riversides. We also have a wetland system with three dams, and we have increased own energy production with wood chip burning and solar panels.”
The idea Ropilo says that replacing imported soy with Finnish feed com- ponents results in tastier meat rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These feed components are broad bean, crushed turnip rape, rape- seed oil and OVR, which is an abbreviation for a barley protein feed that is a factory by-product. With this feed the meat quality and fat composition change, and sustainability is heightened.
Advantages Ropilo believes that the greatest advantage as a producer is knowing that the pigs are sold without any interference in the market, and being able to get new growers as soon as he has sold the previous group so the flow of pigs is not disturbed. Further notable benefits: • A 24% reduction in carbon footprint, i.e. 2.5kg CO2 live weight compared to an average of 3.3kg CO2/kg live
/kg
Matti Ropilo, owner of MTY Alakukku farm.
weight in other HKScan Rypsiporsas producers.
• A 35% reduction in purchased protein, saving about € 20,000 per year.
• Feeding days have remained consistent. • Products such as Rypsiporsas pork have a better price and less fluctuating demand. • Healthier pigs.
The costs A € 15,000 investment was made on two new storage tanks when the farm started with Rypsiporsas production – one for oatmeal-based protein feed and the other for rapeseed oil. Furthermore, € 18,000 was spent on the installation of solar panels for a 16 kilowatt system. The return on investment for this is 11 years. Variable production costs decreased by 7.4% per kg of meat, mainly due to lower energy costs (down 17%), feeding costs (down 8.8%) and veterinarian and medical costs (down 7%). An increase was observed, however, with fixed costs at 3.6% per kg as a result of investments. Overall, the total cost of meat production was 5.1% less per kg of meat.
What’s next? The next goal is to make production carbon neutral. Food- stuffs make up the biggest share of the farm’s footprint, so Ropilo is participating in a project to optimise the input/out- put ratio of feed. The project studies conservation agriculture in terms of fertilisation and soil cultivation methods. “I’m waiting to get more profound methods for counting the carbon footprint, so that calculations are based on the exact production methods of each farm. Now, the emissions for the commercial feed are average Finnish values,” says Ropilo.
▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 36, No. 7, 2020 13
PHOTO: EU PIG
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