installed either. A bulk truck has a cost-increasing effect and uses a lot of diesel when unloading. We will have our feed delivered in containers. This is easier with the fixed number of pigs at our farm.”
The sedum roof. Solar panels will be installed on the edge, above the range. The second barn will be constructed on the left.
The sows give birth separately in the group. During weaning, the piglets remain in the pen; the sows are moved.
Large light plates in the facades provide a lot of natural light in the barn. 20
▶ PIG PROGRESS | Volume 37, No. 5/6, 2021
Piglets twice a year It is not just the barn that is completely different from what is common practice now. Keeping the pigs is a different matter as well. Nieuwenhuis says, “We would like to work with a system where the sows all have a litter twice each year in the same week. The animals remain in the same barn until slaughter. By managing things in this way, the pig farmer’s work will become easier. Experiencing a few days of hustle and bustle twice and possibly losing sleep a night or two because of farrowing sows is far better than a four- or five-week system.” Peak periods such as weaning and inseminating occur twice a year at a set time. If the pig farmer needs extra help, it will just be for a few days. From the perspective of 26-week rounds, the desired number of 13 farms arises. Co-initiator Jeroen Koks adds, “If the sows have a litter at each farm twice a year, then we will cover 26 weeks. Each farm has 50 sows, which have about the same number of piglets. This means that our buyer is assured of a fairly fixed number of pigs every week.” The barn in De Heurne is the first one in a series. As soon as construction is finished, the second barn will follow later in 2021. The suggestions for improvement that come from what happens with the first barn will be implemented in the second. According to the partners, it is no problem to reach the desired 13 farms. “We already have several, and young, entrepreneurs who have said that they like our idea. Farmers are interested in doing things differently from how their parents or grandparents did things. The condition for scaling up is that there should be guaranteed sales.” Zonvarken already has one client willing to market the pigs. According to Nieuwenhuis and Koks, that person was imme- diately interested in the concept. He has already promised guaranteed purchase of finishers at an additional price for several years. “For the time being, he does not want to make himself known yet. Supplying meat is most important; sales will come after. We do not want to just announce the arrival of a new concept on the shelves – we want to present it with sufficient volume at once.” The price for pig farmers will therefore lie between conven- tional and organic. That means there is a premium for the extras in the concept. Nieuwenhuis and his colleagues say, “We are confident that consumers will pay for a piece of pork that is distinctive in taste. A major challenge is starting up concepts in carcass balance. Chops and pork tenderloin do sell, but there is more to a pig. These parts are thought of as being not marketable by default, so they are processed in mixed products.”
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