Articles - Facilities and equipment

La Bonita farm is situated between tropical mountains at an altitude of 2000 m, giving it a high health status. During our visit they shared with us the management routines of the farm and they showed us the facilities, which included an interesting weaning feeder.

Do you know which feeding system best fits your needs? This article describes and compares the systems that have been implemented in the last years: feeding ball, dry and wet feeding systems.

Key considerations for the design of biosecure and practical pig loading chutes that will minimize disease transmission during the animal movement process.

How to achieve the 6 kg average daily intake that today's high-producing lactating sows need?

We highlight different options for segregation of clean/dirty zones at the personnel entrance into the farm. This is where biosecurity starts. Keeping it simple and easy to follow increases the likelihood of an effective protocol.

Biofilm, “the dirt in water pipes”, the causative agent of problems in the conditions and the quality of the water supply, is the subject of this article.

Using a custom-made cart designed for drying and storage of heating lamps from farrowing units between uses to extent its working life.

Choosing a smooth tile type with seamless gap material will not allow rodents to achieve a foothold that would facilitate their climbing ability

The second part of this article tells us what we can learn from sow's nesting instinct, creep-feed intake, relationship with the operator and groups formation in camping systems for use in our closed farms.

How to increase water consumption in piglets during the 2 to 3 days period after weaning using the piglet’s natural curiosity.

After the onset of problems, it brings back to our mind that perhaps water could be the source of our poor production results.

We explain a simple and easy method for cleaning creep feeders.

The goal is to be able to make that some individual dispensers do not deliver feed when they are all full

The views of experienced experts on what the ideal mating /early gestation barn should look like.

This trick tries to reduce the number of deaths by providing the piglets more resting space by using the corridor.

Joan Wennberg discusses with different experts how do they think that the ideal mating area design should be.

30 years ago, the idea of setting up a conveyor belt like the ones that are (or were) used in poultry farming appeared.

The most difficult thing for sows is learning to open doors. Here we show an easy and practical way to achieve it.

One of the main tools to encourage the installation of extra lighting in the mating area is the data analysis, and more specifically the weaning-to-service interval.

Floor cooling is based on the conduction of heat from the sow to a sink while lying down.

Spain is, regarding pig census, the third country in the world in relation to pig production, behind China and the USA, and the fourth as pork producer because Germany fattens many piglets imported from The Netherlands and Denmark, and it also slaughters pigs from these and other countries.

This time, Joan Wennberg discusses the different feeding and environmental control systems in the farrowing house with Heraclio Corchón and Javier Lorente

Lifting partitions in the farrowing unit allows piglets from different litters to mix, sharing teats and socializing.

Joan Wennberg discusses the ideal farrowing facilities with Heraclio Corchón and Javier Lorente. They do not always agree, which makes reading this document even more interesting.