‘Every day is a learning day’ – Pilgrim’s’ latest new entrant takes to pig farming

There is a general shortage of quality rearing and finishing accommodation across the UK pig sector.

This is an issue, and often a constraint on expansion, for both the big integrated companies and smaller independent pig breeding businesses. There are various reasons for it, including a lack of willingness among farmers to take the plunge and restrictive planning laws that stifle expansion.

Pilgrim’s Europe has been trying to address this for some time. It requires thousands of new rearing and finishing spaces in order to continue growing towards its ambitious slaughter targets.

There are two ways the company can grow its own stock. One is new builds, which come with planning and environmental requirements that can be difficult and lengthy to obtain, although a new build from scratch takes about 12 weeks after these requirements are met.

The other is conversions, which remove many of those hurdles and are quicker to get up and running.

The company recently announced it is offering a new longer-term, more financially stable package to farmers for both new builds and conversions, with a focus on quality that reflects the growing demands from retail customers for higher environmental and welfare standards.

Newcomer

One person taking up the offer is Esme Marsh, who first became aware of the package at this year’s Lamma show, in January, when she met Mark Jagger, the company’s long-serving assistant grower farms manager.

The Marsh family, headed by Esme’s parents, Andrew and Zoe, had a poultry house, which had been culled out as a result of an avian influenza outbreak. The couple were unwilling to go through the process again and Esme was challenged to find a new enterprise for the shed.

The company responsible for the conversion fitted the shed in just three weeks, and it now features 36 pens, with an average of 30 piglets per pen.

Mark explained: “Growing our pig supply to satisfy the strong demand for quality British pork isn’t going to happen overnight. We aren’t going to get there through the planning system alone and farmers need support to understand whether it is viable for them, if they have the land for a new build or redundant sheds suitable for conversion.

“Poultry sheds are cheap to convert, and they do well in terms of performance. Conversions are probably the way forward for the business over the next few years – we’ve got thousands of new pig places going into planning, but given the environmental requirements and pressure on the planning system, conversions have a much quicker payback for farmers if the conditions are right.”

Mark stressed that the extra pig places are a requirement across the UK market and offer a diversification opportunity for farmers looking for new income streams.

“Following the acquisition of Tulip, which was a loss-making company, Pilgrim’s Europe has turned it into a profitable business, and it is now using its profits to go further into British farming, to grow our own stock and to bring more people on board.”

Esme’s unit

Prior to running the unit, Esme was a service adviser at Volkswagen, and sat behind a desk, seeing the same people.

“I couldn’t do that anymore,” she said. “I’m an outdoorsy person anyway, and now I’ve found something I want to do.”

She studied animal care and welding at Broomfield Hall, which is part of Derby College. The family had never had livestock before. “I quite like pigs and I think they’re funny,” Esme said. “It was a good idea to get into the pig industry and my parents had been looking to fill the shed for ages.

“I wanted a business of my own and I wanted to get into farming. My brother is an arable farmer and I wanted to have something to do with farming, but to do it on my own,” she said.

The first batch of piglets arrived on the unit in early August, having been weaned at five weeks and weighing about 10kg. Esme will keep them until about week 20 and take them up to a deadweight of between 85kg and 95kg.

She faced some local opposition to the unit and some people are still getting used to the idea, but she is determined to prove them wrong.

“People would say that I can’t do this job because I’m a woman, but I’ve gone and done it,” a defiant Esme said. “I chose pigs because it’s something different. In Derbyshire, there are cattle and chicken farms, but you never really hear of pig farms. I was going to do this – no one was going to stop me.”

Pilgrim’s support

The unit was initially expected to be ready for October, according to Rebecca Kelly, a growing fields person at Pilgrim’s Europe.

“An email came through a few weeks ago discussing feed for the unit. I asked why we needed feed, and after looking at the piglet sheet, I found the answer to my question – we were filling the unit the following week,” she explained.

This was due to the ease of the conversion, as it was completed in less than half  of the expected six weeks.

Rebecca reports that Esme is already doing a brilliant job on the unit, with the support of her dad.

“I tell Esme to call if she needs any help, and to make sure she’s doing everything right,” she said. “The pigs have been on farm for three weeks and they’ve done really well. We will start pulling them out around week 15 and send them to the abattoir; then Esme will have the fun of washing the entire building and refilling with the second batch.”

Esme has been going around the unit and pulling out the small piglets. She takes them into a separate pen to give them an extra bit of care and some gruel to help them grow.

“She’s just learning that new skill of spotting smaller piglets and pulling them out of the pen, and she’s been doing a really good job of it.” Rebecca added.

Mark has also warned Esme not to expect the first batch of piglets to be perfect. “I pointed out to her that she has never done it before, and there are always things to learn, build on and improve in future batches,” he said.

Happy animals

The most enjoyable part of this relatively new job for Esme is coming into the shed first thing in the morning, while the piglets are all still asleep.

“I just know they’re really happy where they are, and they’ve settled really well,” she said. “It’s a really nice thing to experience and to know that I’m doing a good job with the pigs. They are just so content – you would never know they’re in the shed. It’s a nice environment to work in and it’s great to see happy animals.”

While her parents help out, Esme pretty much does every aspect of the role, including vaccinating, mucking out and generally looking after the pigs.

“I’m learning new skills and every day is a learning day,” Esme said. “It’s trial and error with some things – we’re all learning.”

The unit’s walkway – right along the middle of the shed – makes it very efficient. If Esme has a problem pig, she simply opens the gate and removes the piglet, rather than having to shut all the doors to get one out. “We’re just making it a bit more user-friendly,” Rebecca explained.

Another striking difference at this unit is that more food and drinking space has been installed than RSPCA or Red Tractor ask for.

Mark said he was excited about the opportunity for the Marsh unit when he first saw it. “I do like looking at pigs on the same level as them when there is the space, rather than looking down on a catwalk” he said.

20-year contracts

Pilgrim’s Europe is offering 20-year new-build or conversion contracts to farmers across all sectors, with a commitment that they will make a profit throughout the contract.

When it first quoted to the family for the cost of the conversion, it was estimated at £150,000. However, because of the good state of the shed, the work needed to convert it only came to £120,000.

Mark added that there is also a potential of saving 10-20kg per pig when it comes to feed, depending on the efficiency of the unit, which could equate to 44t/year or more than 800t over the 20-year contract.

He said the benefits of Pilgrim’s’ drive for new pig places is clear. “We’ve got people like Esme coming into the industry who are keen and we can train them to get the most out of it. Arable farms are more cashflow- and yield-driven, so you generally get the performance from those farms as well.

“It’s great to have youngsters – and young women – coming into the industry and working with the next generation.”

Mark concedes that it’s going to take the rest of his working career to meet the demand for the additional new pig places – but that won’t stop him trying.

“We don’t know how many farms have sheds that could be converted,” he said. “The challenge is that I’ve come across a lot of farms that will, under no circumstances, have livestock. But we believe there are plenty out there that will see the many benefits of adding pigs to their farming enterprise.”