Eight pig producers from across Europe have been announced as winners of the first EU PiG Grand Prix and will now carry the title of EU PiG Ambassador, showcasing their examples of innovation and best practice.
Each of the winners entered innovative examples of best practice in place on their farms relating to one the EU PiG themes of health, welfare, precision production and meat quality in the competition run by the EU Pig Innovation Group (EU PiG).
The winning practices are:
Health
- Biosecurity tool, Ireland
- Reducing antibiotic use, Netherlands
Precision
- Clean and accessible water, Denmark
- Routine weighing for accurate feeding, Denmark
Meat quality
- ‘Heart Pig’: marketing via welfare brand,
Denmark - Male finishing without boar taint, Germany
Welfare
- Entire male production, Spain
- Rearing pigs with intact tails, Finland
The annual EU PiG Grand Prix is designed to identify best practice on pig farms, and share it with pig producers across EU PiGs 13 participating EU member states and beyond.
AHDB’s Charlotte Evans, EU PiG project coordinator, said: “The network of 19 partner organisations worked with producers in all 13 countries to identify pig production innovations that are working well in practice, drawing in nearly 300 entries to be shortlisted and assessed by industry experts.
“Thanks and huge congratulations go to all eight Ambassadors for their winning examples of best practice – which they and the pig industry can be very proud of. We are looking forward to finding out more about them and sharing information with other producers across Europe who can benefit from adopting similar tried-and-tested practices on their units.
“EU PiG is about connecting pig producers and others across the European pig industry, and sharing the latest best practice and innovations, and the Grand Prix entrants have given us a varied and impressive range of ideas to help other producers improve on-farm efficiency.”
More information about the winning entries will be added to the EU PiG website in due course and producers can subscribe to receive the EU PiG newsletter for updates.
Producers can contact their local Regional Pig Innovation Group (RPIG) leaders for more details on the best practices and other innovators in their region. Click here for contact details.
The EU PiG project has received funding from the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.