Now we sleep better at night

Claus Petersen, Maaling Avl og Opformering (Maaling Breeding and Multiplying), has very positive experiences with a new air filter system from SKIOLD GROUP, which prevents airborne bacteria from the outside air from entering the pig housing.

”Experiences from the first months are very positive. Despite a dry and hot summer, no sows have died from heat stress in the past two months.”

The words come from Claus Petersen, owner of Maaling Avl og Opformering near Broager. He had an air filter system from SKIOLD GROUP installed in July this year.

”There are two filters involved. A pre-filter that stops coarse particles such as straw, leaves and dust. And inside a fine filter, a compact filter that prevents airborne bacteria in the outside air from entering the pig housing. The compact filters are of the same type that are used in the healthcare sector – offices and other shared spaces, etc., where it is important to keep all bacteria and viruses out”, says Hans Jørn Klitgaard, area sales manager with SKIOLD GROUP.

The filters are easy to install directly on the outside of the existing wall and ceiling valves of the housing unit. It is done from the outside, so the technicians do not even have to enter the housing unit during installation. At Maaling they have 544 filters. Some over the windows. Two filters are installed per valve.

The filters have long service life and are energy-friendly, as there are no mechanical or moving parts. So there is no power consumption or expenses to electricians.

”This is a system that contributes to a more sustainable future with energy savings and improved durability of the solutions”, Hans Jørn Klitgaard says.

The first filters were installed at Munkbro Svineavl (Munkebo Pig Breeding) in 2018. Half of the pre-filters have been replaced there, but none of the antibacterial filters.

Health is essential

Claus Petersen, who together with his wife Maria Nittegaard Petersen runs Maaling Avl og Opformering as the 9^th generation on the farm, emphasizes that health and health status are crucial for the farm. The choice of filtering the intake air has its background in a sanitation process that Maaling has been through. Claus Petersen is the newly elected chairman of Dansk Svineavl (Danish Pig Breeding). Claus Petersen explains:

”For many years we had AP12 og mycoplasma lung disease on the farm. Eventually, it became so difficult to sell breading stock that we decided on a sanitation. We then considered whether it should be a traditional total sanitation or a caesarean section sanitation”.

”We chose the caesarean section solution in order to maintain our high breeding level. Among other things we have been the best in this country within landrace for five years, and we would like to preserve some of these genes”.

”This meant that 6 vets and 3 assistants plus pig housing staff performed caesarean sections on 156 purebred landrace and duroc sows every other Tuesday for a period of a good 10 months”.

”It was a huge effort, but it was worth it. We eliminated AP12 and mycoplasma from the farm and started establishing a new herd on our property in Sommersted. But then unfortunately we had a reinfection with mycoplasma”.

”We tried medical remediation, and got rid of AP12, but we didn’t get rid of the mycoplasma.”

”We considered several options to protect the herd as much as possible, for example against other diseases such as PRRS. A possible solution with UV light was considered too expensive. Another option was to transform our production into regular pig production, but neither Maria nor I are minded for that”.

”Therefore we chose the solution with compact filters from SKIOLD. It cost us a couple of million DKK, but we are very happy with this solution, and we sleep better at night now”, Claus Petersen says. He reckons that the filter solution has removed 95% of the risk of the herd contracting airborne diseases.

Most of the breeding stock is for export

There is a total of 1,000 sows at Maaling that are part of the DanBred breeding system. There is breeding with LL and DD of about 325 sows, and there is approximately 675 sows in the multiplier unit. All castrates from the multiplier unit, approximately 11,000, are sold as 7 kg pigs to permanent buyer – the nearest neighbour. Approximately 7,200 YL young sows are sold per year. There are pigs on five sites.

Maaling exports 60% of the breeding animals. They send YL young sows to Spain, Belgium and Germany, and LL and DD boars to England, Poland, France, Spain and Germany. They also sell to Danish customers, and Claus Petersen would like to sell to even more Danish farmers.

Maaling has 325 hectares with a crop rotation consisting of barley, wheat, rapeseed, oats, spinach and organic maize. They share machinery and field operations manager with a neighbour. Maaling employs 16 persons in total.