A story of babes

CEBU, Philippines - Remember that movie “Babe” about a decade ago? This family film centered on a pig called Babe who knew that he and his kind would, sooner or later, end up on someone’s dinner table.

But Babe had ambition; he felt he had another calling. Surely, he thought, there was more to a pig’s life than just going to “Pig Paradise” (read: slaughterhouse), and becoming a meal. And so, with some mentoring from a sheepdog, Babe learns and masters the skills of herding the sheep.

Well, that’s Babe. Others of his kind serve their place in the hierarchy of creation and go through the normal scheme of things. Except that in a specialized industry, some get prepared for and polished to their finest best, requiring planning, research, infusion of budgets and manpower in the production process.

So it is with pigs in the Breeder Farms and Grower Finishing Farms of the Pilmico Animal Nutrition, an Aboitiz Company, in Capas, Tarlac. Spread throughout an aggregate of 20 hectares in Capas, Tarlac the farms are committed to be their clients’ Partners for Growth by guaranteeing better market performance and returns.

Presently, the Breeder Farms house 49 boars in a 90-pen capacity. Since the best must come from no less, the farms hold hybrid boars and piglets. Yorkshires are obtained from the United States and Spain; Pietrains from Germany, Spain and Belgium. Large Whites and Landraces are from the United States, and the brown ones with Duroc bloodline are from the original father boar. All intimidatingly big and long, the boars are heavy, too, ranging from 220 to 350 kilos each. 

The breeding operations are complex and all-encompassing, thus including sections each for lactation, nursery, gestation and gilt development. While we generally call them “piglets,” regardless of age, the breeding industry distinguishes between the “sucklings” (1-24 days old) and “weanlings” (25-70 days old).

Breeding operations are serious business, with nothing left to chance. For instance, all breeders have individual ID’s pinned to their ears. The figures written there show date of birth, parentage and breed. 

Breeding is done by artificial insemination. Boars are generally useful for up to 3 to 4 years of age. Senior boars can ejaculate twice per week, yielding about a liter per. Junior boars begin with once a week, giving about 200 ml. Whichever the age, all young boars are trained to mount a blue dummy to stimulate ejaculation. After 2 to 3 weeks, they can be left on their own.

The boars’ concentrates are then collected, measured, preserved, processed, and protected at the Artificial Insemination (A.I.) Center. The Spermacure equipment can determine the presence of abnormalities. Extra care is exercised to shield the concentrates, because these could die or weaken from light, temperature and even the mineral residue of tap water in a beaker or flask. One ejaculation is enough to inseminate 15 breeders.

“A.I.” is definitely the preferred method. Commercial operations can have a ratio of 1 boar for every 80 sows. Production through the natural process would decrease the ratio to 1 boar for every 17 sows.

About 8 months after birth, female pigs are ready for farrowing. They are then inseminated with the boars’ concentrates. Contrary to usual belief, one insemination is no certainty for a sow’s farrowing. Thus, a “heat detection crew” monitors the sow’s post-insemination behavior from 15 to 18 days. If insemination is not fruitful, the sow gets 2-3 more inseminations.

While pig raising is associated with foul-smelling pens and waste strewn all over the area, such does not describe Pilmico’s farms. Mornings, the pens are washed and cleaned. After lunch, it’s the pigs’ turn. The rooms are air-conditioned, their temperature kept consistent by a tunnel ventilation with evaporative cooling system. Feeding is on-time through an automated feed distribution system. 

Moreover, stocking density in the pens is strictly followed: 2 rooms per barn, 32 pens per room, and 21 pigs per pen. At the nursery, stocking density is 19.

Two rooms are always reserved for pigs which are indisposed and thus need to be isolated to prevent contamination.

Each sow can farrow for a maximum of 8 times, or twice per year. Three to four days before giving birth, she is transferred to any of the six lactation barns, to a bigger area to accommodate her and the forthcoming babes. Normally, each sow at Pilmico gives a litter of 11 piglets, as compared to the industry average of 9. Yields are higher during the cold months of December to February.

At the gestation section, each sow has a pen measuring 2 feet wide and 2.1 meters long, purposely to regulate movement and thus, protect the pregnancy. 

Waste water is pumped out to sugar canes during the dry season. All wastes go to the biodigester where microbial action takes place to convert the waster into methane gas. This two-in-one approach, thus, addresses the power needs of the plant, thus reducing the use of bunker fuel and diesel.

And yes, it’s true that at the farms, no visitor goes in without taking a full shower and no request for exemption is heard. Deemed the carrier of diseases and infections in such farms, visitors must comply with the strict biosecurity measures. By all means and at all costs, the babes deserve no less.