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Given the huge success of the TR2, Rotecna expands its range of dry feed hoppers to fattening with the TR3D. This is a new two-sided model with three outlet nozzles, designed to supply large pens of animals. The V-shaped design of the side nozzles means animals can be arranged diagonally, whereby they can eat peacefully without bothering each other, thus avoiding fights and feed wastage.

In 2014, the Cooperativa d’Ivars invested in a refurbishment and extension of this farm of 2,000 sows in Valfarta (Huesca), where in 2017 they installed Rotecna's Doisitronic electronic feeding system in all of their farrowing pens. After three full production cycles, the farm has achieved some excellent figures, with an average of 38 piglets weaned per sow and year. We spoke to Orlando, the manager of the farm, to learn about the work they are doing with the Dositronic.

Have a feeding system capable of supplying food to a large number of pigs per pen is a major need in markets where swine production is growing. Feed represents around 70 % of production costs. It is therefore very important to optimize its management with feeding systems that can offer both precise and effective operation, allowing the animals to eat peacefully without wasting feed.

With the aim of protecting pig farms from the major impact on the sector of the entry of serious diseases, biosecurity is gaining ground as one of the topics of greatest relevance to the future of the sector. Given this scenario, veterinarian and a biosecurity advisory Josep Casanovas analyses the main challenges and errors in the field of biosecurity. On this occasion, we'll address external biosecurity, and in a future edition we will focus on it internally.

The calculation of feed levels in silos is a difficult and time-consuming task, which sometimes involves a risk due to having to go to the top of the silos to visually check their content.

Because of this, Rotecna now distributes SiloMetric (MCSystems), an innovative product for making accurate readings of silo content in real time.

Well-homogenised slurry is important in preparation for a good solid-liquid separation process.

Rotecna's TecnaPur system includes a submergible agitator, whose technical features offer the farmer high performance at low cost.

One aspect that contributes to the improvement of animal health and decreases environmental impact is the materials that are used inside the farm. This comparative study will demonstrate how polypropylene panels decrease the consumption of cleaning water by 46.5%, and therefore also production of pig manure, in comparison to concrete panels; require 21.5% less time for cleaning and, most importantly, carry a much lower microbiological burden once cleaned and disinfected.

Feeding plays a very important role in the period between the day sows are weaned and when they start breeding. That's why experts recommend ad-libitum feeding (known as flushing), to achieve good follicular development, which will produce a greater quantity and quality of oocytes and will obtain more numerous and more homogeneous litters. A possible solution is to use the Feeding Ball as a mechanism for individual and ad libitum feeding in this phase.

"After a bad year with fruit, Alfredo Sánchez decided to give up on arable farming and raise livestock instead. So it was that, in 1999, he started a pig farm with 1,000 fattening pigs, and a year later expanded to 2,000 pigs. Over time, his son Oscar decided to become a farmer too, and took charge of a farm with 40,000 chickens. However, more attracted by swine than poultry, in 2013, Oscar decided to take control of the family farm, and the first thing he did was to transform the finishing farm into one for breeding, with 750 sows."

"With more than 20 years of experience in the pig industry, Alberto Pascual, with two farms of 2,500 sows each in Avila, decided to take things a step further and, in 2016, started a project from scratch to build a breeding farm for 3,000 sows. In the design of the new operation, Alberto went for a very different type of farm, with new management methods, high biosecurity measures and a clear commitment to energy efficiency."

"Jaume is the third generation of the Alòs family to run this farm in the municipality of Almenar (Lleida) and currently has 400 sows. “When my grandparents moved to Almenar more than 50 years ago, they bought this farm where at first they only had a few sows and cows, and some crop fields,” explains James: “However, 30 years ago my father decided on a change of direction to the family business and specialized in pig production. So, he made a major investment in order to have adequate facilities and start activity in 1985, with a farrow-to-finish cycle with 50 sows”.

Proper slurry management is one of the main challenges of the future of the pig sector. Faced with growing pig numbers and increasingly more demanding administrative requirements in environmental terms, livestock waste limits the growth potential of farms, especially in areas with a high concentration of pig production in very little space. Having efficient and cost-effective equipment on farms for the separation of solids is posited as the best solution to this problem.

The new European regulations on animal welfare, mandatory from January 2013, set out the need to build more spacious pens to create a comfortable environment and avoid stress among animals due to lack of space. Pens should also have a feeding area, a rest area and a defecation area. In terms of size, the regulation establishes a minimum space of 0.65 m2 per fattening pig of up to 110 kilos, and of 1 m2 per fattening of more than 110 kg. More spacious pens make it easier for the pigs to move more freely and develop more natural behaviour.

The use of the Rotecna Ni-2 in farrowing provides piglets with the perfect environment all year round. This ensures that the generated calories are concentrated in a limited space for the piglets, without the need to increase the ambient temperature in the barn. This method creates energy savings in heating of between 30% and 40%, depending on how farrowing pens are organised.

With 30 years of experience in the pig industry, Ignasi Culleré started out in the livestock trade on a family farm working with sows, which he was already managing at the age of 22. In 2013, faced with the demands of the new animal welfare regulation, he decided to transform the farm and work on fattening, and also teamed up with the Alivac company. Then, a little more than a year ago, he began managing a finishing farm belonging to the same company in Arbeca, which in recent months has started expanding its facilities to as many as 7,200 finishing pigs, for which he has used Rotecna products. "I've always worked with Rotecna equipment. I am satisfied with their products, because they have always given me very good results."

"From families with a strong farming tradition, in the year 2000, Núria Erill and Angel Peretó decided to start a farm from scratch, with 500 sows. Then, in 2005, they expanded up to 1,600 with a weaning capacity for 8,000. In 2017, they installed the Dositronic electronic feed supply system in their farrowing pens, and Núria highlights the subsequent increase in the consumption of feed and water by her sows.

"Coming from a family with a long tradition of cattle farming and with working experience on pig farms, Hugo Siliezar from Guatemala's first business initiative was a fish farm dedicated to the production of tilapia fingerlings. With this project running, in 2000 Hugo and his wife decided to expand the business and, given their experience, they decided to build a hog farm, and started work with 10 sows and one boar, the aim being to sell the pigs they produced. With time and good market conditions, they decided to expand the operation, and they currently have 255 sows and a farrow-to-finish operation, where 100% of piglets are fattened for sale as cereal-fed pigs".

"With a herd of 3,000 sows and more than 75,000 piglets weaned per year, the Mexican company RYC Alimentos owns a 40 year old pig farm, which makes good use of Rotecna products. Armando Landa, a veterinary surgeon by profession, has been working on this farm for ten years. He is in charge of management and administration of the farm, supervision of its health status and monitoring of its production figures. “Rotecna products are very good quality. They work very well and give good results, so we decided to install them,” explains Armando.

A study carried out by SGS in July 2014 compared six of the most representative heating plates on the market, manufactured by five different firms, of similar dimensions (1200mm x 500mm) and different materials. In the trial, we evaluated the energy consumed by the six plates in one hour. The results confirm that the Rotecna electric heating plate is the number one in energy efficiency, with lower consumption for the same surface temperature.