September for the French livestock industry means it is SPACE show time and with Brittany being the hub of this farming sector – 60 per cent of France’s 1.1 million sows are located in Brittany – many attendees don’t have too far to travel. Most of the national and international trade fairs moved to being held every two years, but the SPACE organizers have stuck to an annual format.

French farmers turn up in droves regardless of the state of their business – either to drink a glass of champagne in celebration or to drown their sorrows – and as long as visitor and exhibitor numbers hold up then this event will continue to be held each September.
The show organizers are continually encouraging visitors from overseas and the international aspect of the show continues to grow. There is a large meeting room set aside for overseas visitors to “meet & greet” and this facility is always a hive of activity.
France is Europe’s third largest pig meat producer and the French pig industry has been hit hard by the Russian ban on European pork imposed in January 2014 after African swine fever was found in Lithuania. This ban cut EU pork exports by 25 per cent and resulted in a fall in prices and an oversupply of pork in Europe. As well as a fall in prices many French pig producers had to borrow money to finance new loose housing for gestating sows, as a consequence of the EU partial ban on sow stalls and of course these loans have to be serviced.
France traditionally has many small family farms, some of which are becoming uneconomic and whilst driving through the Brittany countryside the editor passed many pig barns which were 20 if not 30 years old and due for replacement. One solution has been for farmers to combine their businesses, to make a three site operation. One has expanded the sow numbers. Another focuses on rearing the pigs, whilst the third runs his farm as a finishing unit.
French farmers are not slow at protesting when prices are poor and SPACE is an ideal venue for action. At this year’s show the protests were fairly low key taking the form of blocking the entry to the car parks on the first day of the show. In years gone by protests have been more violent with farmers infiltrating the show and wrecking exhibitors’ stands.
Talking of stands, the displays were as colourful and eye catching as ever, but of course they all have to be paid for – by the customer, eventually. This was the first show that I’ve ever visited that was selling Hallal burgers – a sign of the changing times, I guess.
Landata Cobiporc is well known for its AI equipment & large boar studs and is now known as Yxia. Yxia had nothing new to enthral visitors with, just a case of modifying existing equipment, in this case their multi doser semen dispenser, to make it more user friendly. “The dispenser is now more robust to withstand damage plus the locking mechanism is more secure,” pointed out Isabelle Thomas, Yxia’s Export Specialist.
France of course has a number of well-known breeding companies and France was the first European country to import the Mieshan from China in order to breed hyper prolific lines. However, that impetus seems to have got lost somewhere. In 1990, both France and Denmark were selling 19pigs/ sow/ year, yet in 2014, whilst French output stood at 25.8, the Danes were doing 29.6! Hardly surprising then that the number of Danish breeders exhibiting at SPACE has jumped in the

last 12months and DanAvl are making inroads into the French industry.

Topigs, now of course Topigs Norsvin, is a well-respected international breeding company and their stand was attracting numerous visitors during the show. This means more competition for the French breeders but good news for the French producers. I-TEK makes an extensive range of pig buildings and has got a foothold in the UK which gives British pig farmers more choice, which is always a good thing.
Awards are given for new products at SPACE and it must be increasingly difficult for companies to come up with new ideas year upon year. The poultry industry is generally in front of the pig sector and it has used drinking water consumption patterns as an indicator of ill health for quite some time and several companies were exhibiting water monitoring equipment, specifically designed for pigs.

Profextru B.V. is a Dutch company and it gained a two-star award for its PVC Combiboard Zeta panels, which can be used to make barn walls. The panels have an airspace in the centre which is filled with concrete, once the panels are in place. The outer layer is resistant against urine, manure, does not have to be painted and can be cleaned by pressure washing.

Filtering incoming air is more common in N. America than France, with French company Asserva gaining a one-star award for its Filtranet unit. A French producer with a farm located near a slaughter plant fo

und that contaminants were affecting his pigs’ health, to such an extent that he decided to depopulate and restock. He fitted Filtranet units to his buildings prior to his restock and his pigs have since stayed clean, with no health breakdowns. The author spent many years managing a unit and one job that caused him grief was estimating the amount of feed in the steel feed bins (before translucent fibreglass bins came on the scene). The very unscientific way to check feed amounts involved chucking stones at said bins and a change in the sound gave a rough idea of the feed level and the need to order new deliveries.

Well, technology can now do this job. Sodalec were awarded one-star for their Gestock weighing system. Load cells fixed to the feed bin legs generate the feed bin weight electronically and which can be flagged up at the touch of a button. No stones needed!
The Olmix Company which has a large factory at Brehan, some 90 km west of Rennes is a regular exhibitor at SPACE and this year the company was celebrating its 20th anniversary. One of Olmix’s long established products is its sanitizer, Mistral. The company is also well known for its range of mycotoxin binders. “Olmix is also expanding its range of algae products and we have enlarged our Brehan plant to cater for this demand. Our industry has to reduce its reliance on antibiotics and with algae extracts we can produce more food with less reliance on antibiotics,” commented Company boss Herve Balluson. “In addition we have held several annual conferences with Algae as the theme. This year, being our 20th anniversary we brought 400 customers, partners and distributors from all over the world to celebrate with us. To coincide with this key anniversary, Olmix has also just opened its Breizh Algae School. Based in Brittany, the school buildings are tastefully constructed using local stone and roofed with slates. “Students will be given training in modern farming techniques that are free of antibiotics, pesticides and chemical additives.”
The SPACE show is always a good advert for the livestock industry and the 2016 show will be held Tuesday 13th – Friday 16TH September.  •

By Norman Crabtree