April 12, 2011
 

The Netherlands opens sustainable pig housing concept

Dutch State Secretary of Agriculture Henk Bleker has formally opened a new sustainable pig barn yesterday (Apr 11).

Although the investments are quite high, pigs show a good growth rate and the meat can be sold as welfare friendly meat for a higher price.

The innovative new pig housing concept, named Starplus *** 4 PPP, is welfare friendly, has a reduced ammonia, smell and methane emission rate, produces sustainable energy and high quality artificial fertiliser.

The three stars in the name represent the high welfare standards of the barn. The four Ps stand for the attention given to People, Planet, Profit en Pigs.

The barn has different unique characteristics such as special indoor and outdoor areas, special inlets for daylight and a natural ventilation system. The latter two features will reduce the energy costs for mechanical ventilation and artificial lighting. Manure is removed continuously from the barn, creating a clean and fresh indoor environment for the animals and farmer. A great part of the manure, together with left-over rooting material, can be used for sustainable energy production on-farm.

The barn has been developed by a consortium of companies and they are HoSt BV, Kempfarm BV and Wopereis Staalbouw BV, and Wageningen UR Livestock Research. The barn will be tested under experimental conditions for the next two years at the pig research centre Sterksel, which is a part of Wageningen University, and under practical circumstances at a conventional pig farm.