December 11, 2017
At the IPEMA industry workshop which took take place in Cluj-Napoca on 29.09.2017 Annechien ten Have did give a presentation about her twenty years experience with raising entire male pigs on her own farm in the Netherlands. Her pig farm has 600 sows and 3000 finishers, family operated with group housing sows on straw since 2000 and fattening of non-castrated boars since 1995.
She indicated that it is very well possible to manage the higher activity level of the boars, taking into account the do’s and dont’s of raising boars who behave and react different. Not only the housing and management is important, also the feeding plays a crucial role.
She tries not to mix, have enough rest in the room, good health, good quality of the floor, ad libitum or high feed level, a special diet for boars (amino acids) and enough water. Her conclusion was: It works, but it is different.
Presentation