Pig Production

How a large Chinese pig production company is achieving positive productivity by providing higher welfare inputs to its system.

Case study about supply chain partners Waitrose, their UK supplier Winterbotham Darby and their Italian partner Fumagalli, and how they are running a commercially successful free farrowing system in Italy’s pig sector.

Waitrose has a unique relationship with its farmers, supporting British agriculture in the care of animals to deliver superb quality through the highest welfare standards

Animal welfare concerns are now well recognised by the public, food companies, governments and farmers. However, in many instances, there is no significant volume of alternative supplies of food for consumers to buy. To meet this challenge in a sustainable manner on farms, the most practical solutions will be primarily driven by farmers for farmers.

The European Farmers Network (EFN) was a partnership established between Compassion in World Farming (Compassion) and the FAI (Food Animal Initiative) in 2008-2011. The network brought together a values-driven association of farmers across Europe who believe that higher animal welfare is an essential part of sustainable agriculture.

The focus of the EFN was to bring together farmers who were willing to lead by example, demonstrating solutions to a wide audience.

A number of EFN case studies are available including:

• Brydock Farms: Pigs with a tail to tell – Taking the lead in validating a commercial system for producing pigs with full tails.

• Walking free of footrot – Lameness can be time consuming to treat on a case-by-case basis, but a new protocol looks set to offer a practical approach to prevention.

• HWIS: A brighter future for broilers – Why Higher Welfare Indoor Systems offer benefits to both birds and farmers

• Happy Graze – Is monitoring grass growth the key to by-passing rising feed costs?

• Milk from grass: a genuine alternative – The case for boosting utilisation of grass and reducing reliance on cereals.