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The objective of applying creep feeding techniques (supplementing the food of suckling piglets with feed), is to get them to start eating solid feed as soon as possible. This will produce more homogeneous piglets with higher weights, and most important, that can better adapt to the delicate weaning phase.

The impact of climate change is accentuated and threatens to mortgage the health of children. Every day we are increasingly aware of the importance of taking steps to conserve and improve the environment. We only have one planet and we must guarantee that future generations can live on it.

Spain is the leading supplier of pork for France, with more than 315,000 tonnes per year.

The Spanish pig farming sector is probably one of the most relevant in the national and international market, due to the quality and variety of its products, and the important benefits it brings. Nonetheless, pig farming must face different threats and challenges. Carlos Sánchez, veterinarian of the Animal Health Prevention Service of the Generalitat de Catalunya, tells us about these challenges and threats.

Nests permit the establishment of a comfortable area that ensures the well-being of the piglets while also creating a space that makes it easier for the operators to tend to the newborn.

The Catalan Government recently approved the Soil Fertilisation and Livestock Manure Management Decree. This establishes an absolute moratorium of two years from the publication of the decree for the construction of new farms and the extension of the capacity of existing farms located in any of the 66 municipalities with a high livestock density index (LDI), i.e., over 1.2.

The Asian nation is the world's largest pork producer, with just over 54 million tonnes in 2018, representing almost 48 % of world production, according to data recorded by ICEX.

The biggest Bolivian city, Santa Cruz, is the largest producer of pork, with 80% of total production

Meat production in German commercial slaughterhouses declined in the financial year 2018. The Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) reported that, compared to the previous year, productivity fell by 1.5%, reaching 8 million tonnes.

To use pig slurry as fertiliser, we must know its nutritional composition, the value and fertiliser efficiency of each of them, the specific needs of each crop in each of its growth phases and its productivity per hectare. This will allow us to calculate the dose and application period to adjust the supply of nutrients to their extraction, after which, we must use an application method to ensure a homogeneous distribution.

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 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.