Top producers have always responded to change – that’s what they do, says Manitoba farmer James Hofer, Hutter Schwein director for Manitoba Pork.
Early in January, Hofer was among a group of people invited to a presentation about pork production in Denmark, hosted by Ontario-based Protekta Inc., a partner of Denmark-based Vilofoss.
Hofer acknowledged after the presentation, held during the 2020 Banff Pork Seminar that Denmark is a world leader in hog production, commenting that Canadian farmers are not too far behind.
“They are very innovative, and they have a lot of passion,” said Hofer. Canadian pig farmers have passion too, but the biggest difference may be that, in Denmark, pig farmers must be qualified and certified before they can operate.
“I guess that speaks for itself,” said Hofer.
Anders Jakobsen, operator of Protekta Farms in Denmark and brother to Protekta Inc. president Morten Jakobsen, provided a detailed description of the farm he had taken over from their parents in 1999.
Age Jakobsen, Anders and Mortens’ dad, had started Danish Protekta in the late 1960s as a construction company focused on building modern, efficient and inexpensive stables for Danish pig producers. Age Jakobsen had erected and managed a 1,000-sow barn within the operation as a test facility for the stables and equipment he would build for other farmers. The business was named after a sow crate he had designed for protecting piglets.
Anders had expanded the herd to 1,400 in 2007, when he depopulated and rebuilt to get rid of a disease issue, reducing the number of sites from eight to four. He has since expanded his herd to 2,000 sows on a land base of just over 1,700 acres.
In 2003, he and some fellow producers formed a co-operative that now has 120 members. He is also development vice-president of a joint venture, Russia Baltic Pork Invest, which runs 6,200 Danish-bred sows on two sites.
In describing the Danish production system, Jakobsen said hog production is highly regulated and that the rules continue to tighten. With 85 per cent of their production going for export, Denmark’s producers must pay close attention to their competitive edge, said Jakobsen. Denmark currently has the most efficient and lowest cost production system in Europe, he said.
“I think it is because we are a country of farmers who are used to competing, but in an open way, so we benchmark with each other, trying to compete with each other, so our experience is shared (and) we try to learn from each other.”
To maintain certification, farms must self-police and adhere to a 129-point program.
Within that program are animal welfare requirements including density rates, restrictions on the proportion of slatted floor and both minimum and maximum hours of light per day.
Pigs must have playing tools made with wood or straw and tails cannot be cut shorter than 50 per cent, with proof to be provided.

Sick pigs are to be held in pens that are heated and have soft floors; shoulder wounds on sows are not acceptable and must be treated; local anesthetic must be given when castrating, and feed is tightly controlled with no meat, bone or blood meal allowed.
Each farmer must thoroughly document how problems are avoided and have an action plan in place in the event of an upset.
An inspector can come onto the farm at any time, unannounced, to ensure that animal welfare standards are properly upheld.
Veterinary inspections are required once every 35 days and the practioner’s license can be pulled if infractions are not reported.
While pigs cannot be weaned before 21 days, the average is 28, he said. Loose housing for sows was made mandatory for all farms in 2013.
Among the challenges facing farmers in Denmark is the potential effect of low medication on animal welfare, said Jakobsen.
The government continues to reduce the amount of medicine farmers are allowed to have on hand, to the point now that the farmer has nothing to work with in the event of an outbreak, he said.
“On one side, it’s good that we go down in the use of medicine, but on the other hand, we still need to treat our pigs.”
Farmers can be given a yellow card as a warning if discrepancies are found in their record keeping, practices or inventory, said Jakobsen. “That’s why I see a little bit of a challenge in welfare, because every year something new is coming up and we don’t get any premium. The next step will probably be loose housing in the farrowing crates. The goal is that 10 per cent of the Danish sows should be free-farrowing. Right now, it’s only two or three per cent.”
Zinc will be banned from pig diets in 2022 and mortality rates are to be lowered, he said.
Jakobsen said that, on his farm, the number of pigs weaned per sows is very high, but he still has an issue with mortality. His sow productivity is right at on the average of the top 25 farms at 35.9 pigs weaned per sow per year in 2018. Some farms have reached 40 pw/s/y, he said.
Protekta Farms has put an emphasis on optimizing automation in the barns with three goals in mind, said Jakobsen. To improve cost efficiency, to support management and to attract and retain good staff. In response to a question from the floor, he said vertical integration is not a factor in Denmark, with most hogs being shipped to one of two big slaughterhouses in Germany.

Karsten Rasmussen, International Manager for Vilofoss, outlined the steps his company encourages producers to take to ensure maximum performance within their herds.
Based in Denmark with 16 locations in Europe and around the world, Vilofoss makes 400,000 tonnes of premix a year, of which two thirds goes to swine production, said Rasmussen.

He said proper management is essential for feeding high-performance sows and controlling piglets through the difficult stages of weaning. To demonstrate, Rasmussen put up a chart showing the nutritional requirements of the piglet from insemination through weaning. The sow must be in good body condition and properly fed to ensure that the growing embryo attaches to the placenta, said Rasmussen. He recommends that producers adjust the sow’s diet accordingly, and that transitions through breeding, gestation and lactation feed regimes be made in steps rather than all at once. He encourages split suckling to make sure that each pig is getting as much milk as possible and to make sure that the sow is producing as much milk as possible. Setting up the gilt for maximum milk production will ensure that she continues to produce will during subsequent parities, said Rasmussen. Conversely, if her pigs are not taking all the milk she produces, she will make less milk in the next parity, he said.
Rasmussen also stressed that the area around the sow needs to be clean and warm.
“We have to secure the biosecurity around these pigs. They are sterile when they are born. I’ve seen so much streptococcus, if we disinfect a little around the sow on the day of farrowing, and look after open wounds including tails and castration, so ensure that we cover the pigs in the best way.
“Do what you can to keep the sow as clean as possible. We see 40 per cent of mortality is during first two days and 60 per cent in first four days. Take more care in first couple of days, you will save a lot of pigs.”
He also recommends use of electrolytes to improve the flavor of creep feed, which encourages the piglets to eat more food, consequently developing their stomachs for weaning.
Hofer commented that having highly qualified people in the barns takes a high level of commitment, which is where the top farms are getting their results.
“I listen to what the Danish farmers are doing and saying, and they are doing a lot of things right, and some of them are basic, simple things which I believe in. For example, when a piglet is born, that piglet is wet. It’s at the body temperature of the sow at 37-38 degrees, and it’s born into an environment of 25 Celsius. When nobody’s there attending the farrowing, it has to dry on its own, and on average, it takes a piglet 20 minutes to find a teat. When you’re attending farrowing, which we do, we towel dry our piglets. We put Saran wrap over the creep area to make a micro-environment for the piglets. We can then run the barn cooler and the piglets are still warm.”

Hofer said he and his co-workers use split suckling to make sure all the pigs get their colostrum and their fair share of milk. “From the time she starts farrowing, the colostrum starts diluting. The big pigs are stronger and get more milk. We mark the pigs. The first six pigs born get a mark, and then next six pigs born get another mark. We’ll never take the small ones off. The small ones don’t get a mark. We’ll just rotate the other six and six.
The gilt or sow must always be in good body condition – not too fat and not too thin, said Hofer. “Once you’ve accomplished that, the right breeding, farrowing in the ideal condition, from then on it’s easy,”
Hofer said life-long learning is crucial for farmers who want to find the leading edge and stay there. “You have to do leading edge stuff and be a student of whatever you’re doing,”
Hofer said he is in awe of the biotechnical advances he sees in pork production.
“Animal agriculture has come a long way. I feel really good about it, the way we as food producers, how we are responding to the needs. They are ever changing, and producers have always responded to change, that’s what we do.” •
— By Brenda Kossowan