Erwin Van De Wolfshaar Looks Back at Depop-Repop

‘WE NOW SEE HOW MUCH POTENTIAL HEALTHY ANIMALS HAVE’

Two years ago, Erwin van de Wolfshaar expanded and repopulated his sow site in Aalten. Despite not being able to keep PRRS out, he calls depop-repop a success. So much so that he also plans to do it at the other sow location. It is mainly a matter of finding the right moment.

High health is high on the agenda for many pig farmers. For Erwin van de Wolfshaar from Vragender (Gld.) this is no less the case. So, the entrepreneur seized the opportunity of renovating and expanding a site in Aalten (Gld.) to start all over again. “We had 1,000 sows at that location but felt we were behind in health,” explains the pig farmer. At that time, ‘only’ 1,000 sows needed to be replaced to restock with 2,000 very healthy animals. “A great opportunity to get the best genetics as well.” Moreover, by starting with young sows, he is picking up a piece of genetic progress.

The farm originally housed Danic sows from a rotation cross with own breeding. The restocking took place with Danic F1 sows. The pig farmer has since switched to a pure line L03 Large White population. He crosses these in with the PIC L04 Landrace to make the PIC Camborough F1. This brings back strengths of both breeds in fertile and vigorous dams with additional genetic progress due to the heterosis effect.

Reducing transport risks

With the expansion and remodelling, many aspects within the farm have been modified. For example, a new hygiene sluice was built, corridors were coated, and external doors were closed. The pig farmer made technical rooms on the outside, so no one has to enter the barn. A tight protocol around carcass handling was also established, including a separate place for carcass storage.

Furthermore, careful thought was given to how to limit the risks of external transport. That remains the Achilles’ heel the pig farmer realises. “We prefer to keep bulk trucks and manure trucks far from the farm, but that is not possible here,” he says. An option to change the air intake relative to the wind direction was no longer an option because of the years-long licensing procedure. However, the vent pipe of manure trucks is connected to a filter during loading so that any pathogens do not enter the barn through the air intake.

Another tricky issue is neighbouring farms; there is another pig farm less than 500 metres away and more in the region. So, it is impossible to completely rule out the risk of airborne pathogens. So PRRS was detected again in pigs after all. Unfortunate, but not the most important thing for the pig farmer. “We wanted to become free of App and we succeeded. We also got rid of many other diseases, or they are only present in a mild form.”

‘I think cost price is more important’

Looking back, the entrepreneur is satisfied with his decision: technically and economically, the farm is running well, and disease pressure is significantly lower. He is weaning between 33 and 34 piglets per sow per year with a 1 to 1.5% failure rate in both weaned piglets and meat pigs. With growth above 1,000 grams per day, the fattening pigs are doing particularly well; we use the PIC 800 as a finishing boar. “But I think cost price is more important; technical production is not a goal. What I do want is sharp feed costs, hardly any medicine costs and efficient working.”

A point of discussion is always what is the best time financially to make the move. After all, when piglet prices are high, it is not convenient to be out of the running for a long time. Van de Wolfshaar was slightly less critical, given the long time needed to licence the increase in herd size. Moreover, the period fell in the middle of the corona time with both high and low piglet prices. “In hindsight, we did it exactly at the right time. After 1.5 years, we are on top production and that at the current high prices.”

Repopulating the other site too

Given the good experience, Van de Wolfshaar also wants to empty and repopulate the other sow location with 2,500 sows. “We are now working on meeting the preconditions, such as improving the loading/unloading area and a new hygiene sluice with automatic showers.” It is still a matter of seeing what the best time is: at current piglet prices, it is not very attractive. He also does not want to wait too long as it will cost money because of the missed benefits.

His good experience with depop-repop at the Aalten site was the deciding factor. “We were quite sceptical beforehand about high health or SPF production. But we now see how much potential healthy animals have. It’s just a shame not to take advantage of that.”