Institut de Recerca i tecnologia Agroalimentàries

Body Composition

Environment Impact

Field Experiments

Feed & Feed Tehnologies

Housing & System Trials

Performance Trials

Physiological Studies

The swine experimental farm has a resident sow herd of 140 sows + 20 gilts (LW*LR, Hypor, Hendrix Genetics). They were conducted in a 3-week batches of 20 sows each, so 17 batches per year and roughly 4000 piglets / year were produced. Facilities were distributed in 4 units. The sow unit is composed of: • a room for quarantine and adaptation of gilts with fourteen pens of 5 m2, and big pen for group housing (20 gilts) equipped with an electronic sow feeding station (ESF; Bigdutchman). • A room with stalls (54) for insemination and gestation checking. • A room with two big pens for dynamic group housing of gestation sows (max. 60 sows per group) both equipped with ESF stations supplying 2 different feeds each (4 in total). • A farrowing unit composed of four similar rooms with ten crates (2.4*2.6 m) each, and an additional room equipped with six farrowing crates. The post-weaning unit is composed of: • Three similar rooms with twenty-four 2m2 pens, and 4 piglets per pen, so a maximum capacity of 96 piglets par room. • Three similar rooms with twelve 2m2 pens, and 4 piglets per pen, so a maximum capacity of 48 piglets par room. • a modular room that can be adapted for twelve, twenty-four or forty-eight pens and a maximum capacity 96 piglets at a time. • All the rooms can be used for performance or feed efficacy tests, as well as for preference studies (two throughs per pen). One of the 24-pen room was also equipped to measure water intake per pen. The fattening unit is composed of: • A barn with two rooms with thirty-six (2.7m2) and sixteen (5.2m2) pens each; they hold 4 and 6 to 8 GF pigs, respectively. Each pen is equipped with a common trough for pelleted feeds and a long trough for liquid feed supplied from a computerized liquid feeding system. • A second barn with a forty-eight pen (5 m2) room prepared to hold 4 to 6 GF pigs per pen, and a second room with seventy-two pens (2.5m2) to measure individual individual feed intake. The digestibility unit is composed of: • A room with twelve classical digestibility crates for GF pigs • A second room with sixteen modular digestibility crates for piglets. • A surgery room equipped for ileal cannulation or ileo-rectal anastomosis. • A room adapted for anatomo-pathological examination studies. • A room equipped with a cooling chamber, freezers, a freze-dryer and a stove for preparation of biological samples. Experimental Feed Mill Plant The feed mill only produces feeds for experimental purposes, particularly for animal nutrition studies. It meets legal requirements and ISO 9000 standards, and the work is carried out under guidelines of good production practices. It has a storage area with 15 silos for cereals and oilseeds, and another area were some raw materials can be introduced into the system from big-bags. It has two independent production lines, one specific for ruminants and a second one for multi-species, plus a third line equipped with an extruder for speciality feeds. Physically, the plant is set up in 4 vertical sections, with each section being a part of the process: • Reception, storage, and dosing of major raw materials. • Grinding, dosing of minerals and animal-origin meals, mixing, and sampling of mash feeds. • Pelletizing, cooling, crumblers, extrusion, and post-pelleting liquid application. • Packaging, and sampling of final feed. The production capabilities of feed are very variable depending on the diet, process, and batch size, but it can be estimated at an average of 3,000 kg per day, with the ability to fluctuate between 1,000 and 10,000 kg per day. Feeds are formulated using a Brill software, and feed formulae exported to the feed mill computers. The nutrient composition of feed samples is determined by a NIR system (Foss), and physical quality measurements (particle size, hardness, durability, fines) can also be performed.