FARM VISIT ▶▶▶
That is allowed once, provided that it is an individual treat- ment. If more than one treatment is necessary, it is not possible to market the animal as organic.
An organic extra In order to be acknowledged as organic, farms in Catalonia need to be registered with the Catalan Council of Organic Production (CCPAE). Currently the feed is being made at a feed mill, which includes organic ingredients without – obvi- ously – the use of antibiotics. Cau feeds a mixture of 50% or- ganic barley, supplemented with corn, soybeans, peas and potato protein. Up to 5% non-organic components are al- lowed to be added, and this is mostly made up of high-pro- tein additions. Cau is, however, thinking about producing or- ganic cereals locally, which will pay off especially if the farm does achieve its projected growth to 700 sows, as that would mean 14,000 finisher pigs/year. Total investment costs for creating the outdoor facility amount to € 1.3 million, which is in addition to the value of the fields and the animals (another € 0.5 million). Currently three staff members are employed to keep the organic farm site going.
Marketing the pigs Cau will sell the finished pigs to slaughterhouse Masia Tero in the nearby town Les Borges Blanques. The animals will be delivered to the slaughterhouse when they reach 120– 125kg, the size being pretty identical to the pigs from his
conventional farm. The finisher pigs will be 5½ to 6 months old by then. Price-wise he will receive more than double the amount per kg of pork than for a conventional pig; prices were € 1.40/kg live weight in late April 2021. Then again, pro- duction and investment costs of organically produced pigs are also substantially higher. Cau thinks it is important that consumers will be able to tell where their food comes from. A website explaining all about the farm is under construction, and he says that visitors are more than welcome. How consumers will be able to recog- nise the Cal Miqueló pork in the supermarkets is not entirely clear yet. Come September 2021, when the first organic pork from Cal Miqueló will hit the market, the answer will be found in supermarkets in north eastern Spain.
Weaning One week after the interview, one question remains. How did the nocturnal weaning process go? Cau explains, “It went really well. We closed the booths at 4am and then we started loading during the day. The operation consisted of loading a sow and her piglets into a small trailer. Next, the piglets were transferred to a larger trailer and the sows would be moved to the mating area in a tent. The piglets were weighed litter by litter. In total we weaned 26 sows with a total of 336 piglets.”
This farm visit was made possible with the kind cooperation of Rotecna.
▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 37, No. 4, 2021
www.pigprogress.net/ worldofpigs
21
Piglets can roam around the huts and even visit a neighbouring hut.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36
