Young blood can triumph in the pig business
Taking on a pig farm at the age of 26 is a huge step by any accounts. But then transforming it in to one with its own pig meat label, slurry processing facility and new state-of-the-art sow housing and feeding system within five years is astonishing.
But that is what Christophe Decaigny has done after taking on the 200 sow pig unit, near Izegem from his father, Luc, almost five years ago. “My aim is to be as sustainable as possible while at the same time looking at different avenues to generate revenue,” he said.
And, one of the biggest changes that has been made to the unit, which rears pigs from farrowing to slaughter, has been the installation of a slurry processing facility, which was one of his first investments.
Slurry processing
“I decided to invest in a slurry processing facility firstly for security of the farm, because it means I don’t have to search for extra land to spread manure and secondly to generate income from neighbours,” he explained.
The processing system does not generate electricity, but does separate liquid from the solid part, with the nitrate heavy solid part composted and exported to France. “This means we can spread a lot more of the liquid fraction compared to unprocessed slurry.”
Twenty five neighbours have their slurry processed at the unit, which processes 15m litres a year, with one tanker collecting the slurry from farms. However, because there is more slurry than land, Mr Decaigny is able to charge for the processing.
“Slurry processing costs k18 for every 1cu m when the farmer takes the liquid back. But, when the farmer doesn’t have enough land to spread the liquid portion it costs k21 for 1cu m,” he explained.
Own label
Slurry processing is not the only avenue Mr Decaigny has explored as a way of generating extra income. Two years ago he set up his own pig meat label. “I felt I had a good product and didn’t want to sell just through the co-operative, so I set up my own label called Pig Fign. Nearly one third of my pigs go to eight local butchers who only sell my pig meat and two restaurants also use the meat on their menu.”
And selling meat in this way has not only boosted income, but has also brought Mr Decaigny closer to the consumer. “We have increased margins by selling in this way as we make 10 cents/kg of slaughter weight more by selling to local butchers. It also means we are closer to the consumer, as we can explain just what we do and why we do it and can react when they don’t like something we are doing. At the end of the day the ‘consumer is king’,” he said.
“Our pigs have more space allowance at 0.75sq m/pig than the EU minimum of 0.65sq m/pig and also after weaning sows are only housed in stalls while coming in to heat for 10 days, whereas they could technically be allowed to be in there for up to four weeks, and I think it’s important to inform the consumer of this.”
Increasing pig numbers from 200 to 300 sows is also on the cards at which point Mr Decaigny will begin to search for more butchers to sell his products. But a lack of space won’t be a problem, as he has just invested k920,000 in new buildings for 350 sows, as well as weaners and finishers and a new feeding system.
“We needed to improve accommodation, so for sow housing we are now loose housing them on straw and have also implemented an automatic feeding system, which informs us how much individual sows eat which enables us to pick up on problems.”
A new feed mixing system has also been installed which distributes feed to weaners and finishers. “We grow a lot of our own feed with 50ha planted for maize and 6ha wheat.
“More than 80% of our costs are feed, but for machinery to mix feed it just costs you 15% of the cost of feeding. So investing in machinery to mix your own feed is well worth it and also makes you more sustainable,” he said.
Mr Decaigny also plans on installing a milling system for wheat and barley. “By making our own feed, we know exactly what is going in to the diet- and a consistent ration is best for pigs,” he added.