Davide Bochicchio

Description of organic pig production in Europe

With the aim to identify health and welfare strategies in organic pig production, a description of the different organic production systems was realized in eight European countries (Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and UK). This description was based on the following features: numbers of organic farms and organic pigs, market shares, housing and management characteristics, feeding characteristics, main health problems and relevant differences to the EU regulation existing at the time of the project. The results were primarily based on statistics, country-specific regulations as well as on expert and stakeholder interviews. Organic farming and organic pig production are rapidly developing in European countries. The European country with the highest number of organic pigs is Germany. Organic pig production represents a minor part of the whole pig production in all surveyed countries. All features that were analysed varied greatly between countries with the most striking one being the housing of pigs that can be completely outdoors on pasture for most UK farms and always indoors with an access to an outdoor run, during part of their life, for most farms of German speaking countries.

Animal health and welfare in production systems for organic fattening pigs

With the aim to identify European health and welfare strategies in organic pig production, we summarized information about health and welfare status and potential hazards for organic fattening pigs. The results were primarily based on studies of organic production or comparisons between organic and conventional production. Conventional Danish herds consumed three times as much antibiotics (anthelmintics not included) as the organic herds, whilst there was no difference in mortality rate nor more pigs in need of treatment in the organic herds. Slaughter data indicated that organic pigs had fewer respiratory problems, skin lesions (including abscesses and hernias) and tail wounds compared to conventional pigs. On the other hand, remarks because of joint lesions and white spot livers were more common among organic pigs. The risk of parasitic infections in organic fattening pigs has been confirmed. To control endoparasites, outdoor areas should be rotated with as long interval as possible, i.e. by including the pigs in the crop rotation. Outdoor housing with functional wallows and access to grass and roots or outdoor runs and roughage can enhance pig welfare and reduce pen-mate-directed oral activity and aggression. Minimizing negative environmental impact may conflict with animal welfare, i.e. raising the pigs indoors may not only reduce plant nutrient losses but also reduce the pigs’ activity options. With an increasing number of specialized organic units, implementation of age-segregated production and buying piglets from only one or few units is necessary to maintain a good health in transferred pigs.

PigSurfer – SURveillance, FEedback & Reporting within ProPIG for communication with 75 pig farmers

The CoreOrganic2 research project ProPIG is carried out in 75 organic pig farms in 8 European countries (AT; CH; CZ; DE; DK; FR; IT; UK) to improve animal health, welfare and nutrition using farm customised strategies. For future on-farm application (e.g. advisory/certification activities, which are mostly carried out during one day visits), a practical, automatic recording and feedback tool was developed. This should allow on-farm data collection, import of data into a database and the possibility for benchmarking, including a printed output for the farmer to facilitate immediate discussion of results and improvement strategies. To document not only animal health and welfare, but also integrate diet composition and productivity data, it was important to choose key indicators from all areas, which would be available across all eight countries. Based on existing on-farm welfare assessment protocols (e.g. WelfareQuality®, CorePIG) indicators were selected by the consortium, which were then transferred into a Software programme (“PigSurfer”). This Software is available as Desktop- or Android version to be used on Tablet PCs, so that on-farm data (interview with farmer; direct observations on weaners, finishers, sows; productivity and treatment records; feed) can be entered directly. During two visits a database was built and a “Farm report” was printed for each farm, with benchmarking of results, feedback and discussion with the farmer. After a year, “PigSurfer” was used to carry out the following complete process during one day visits across Europe: Surveillance of health and welfare, feedback of data in comparison with results from the previous year as well as benchmarking with 75 other pig farms and printing a report. “PigSurfer” is a promising tool for communicating health and welfare, as it provides not only a database, which can be continuously extended, but is an important step to move from research to on-farm application across Europe.