A bespoke ready-to-use nursery cabin has been delivered to a Yorkshire farmer. The container-style buildings, specifically developed to help pig producers rear surplus piglets from their sows, are manufactured by Suffolk housing and equipment company, Quality Equipment, at the company’s Woolpit works.
Andy Brown of A & M Farms Ltd, near Hull, ordered the nursery, having seen the system being employed on one of Rattlerow Farms’ 600-sow commercial units where it was saving, on average, the life of half a pig a litter.
The nurseries are available in various sizes and configurations to suit the individual farm requirement and Andy chose a single-room cabin divided into three separate pens each holding up to 28 pigs. Andy runs a 600-sow herd, batch farrowing around 70 sows every three weeks. The nursery was designed specifically to fit in with his system – allowing for one surplus pig per sow, with some extra capacity built in.
In addition to having its own heating, ventilation and slurry system, it is equipped with a warm-water Transition feeder which mixes gruel for the piglets on a little and often basis mimicking the sow’s own feeding pattern – vital for rearing very young piglets.
“With today’s highly-prolific sows many producers have difficulty in rearing all the pigs they produce. We developed this nursery specifically to solve this problem. The cabins come ready to commission – the producer just has to add water, power – and piglets!”
“Feed cost aside, I only have to rear an extra 12 piglets per batch to cover the finance on the new nursery”
The Mini Transition Feeder (MTF) is an innovative solution designed to support early gastrointestinal tract development of piglets, consequently producing healthy and uniform litters with greater vitality and high weaning weights.
My placement year with Quality Equipment so far has been an enriching experience, offering me the opportunity to grow professionally, gain hands-on experience in conducting trials and research, and contribute meaningfully to the industry.
Due to the continued demand for Paneltim plastic panels for piggeries, Suffolk-based equipment supplier and manufacturer Quality Equipment has invested more than £75,000 in a new saw and automated welder, specially designed to deal with plastic.
