History

The story about Piétrain

The Piétrain swine originated in the 1920s from an art of Belgian landrace pig, which was crossbred with different precocious breeds.

The name derives from the village of Piétrain in the province of Brabant, where only one breeder kept this breed.

At the end of the 1950s, the first Piétrain pigs were imported into the Federal Republic of Germany.

As paternal breed the Piétrain is of great importance for the production of finishers, and it’s used in almost all breeding programs for finishers.

Our Story

The story of German Piétrain - Denmark began late 2015 and was fulfilled in 2016. Our goal was to create a farm, which was absolutely free from diseases and with the highest health status of German Piétrain.

In cooperation with German Piétrain in Germany we imported 43 pregnant female animals. We performed caesarian section in the quarantine stables, which are located on the island of Taasinge in southern Denmark. Here they were transported to the farm Eskebjerg, where we had some nursing sows taking care of all the newborn piglets from German Piétrain.

And progress

In this way we could skip a lot of diseases, which were connected to the German Piétrain farms in Germany. We bought some breeding LY animals from a very healthy Danbred farm.

The caesarian sections took place in the beginning of April and late April/beginning of May 2016.

After the caesarian sections we took a lot of blood samples and other samples in order to confirm that the farm is free from diseases. We are connected to the Danish SPF system and we follow the health status in our farm.

Timeline

Point at a picture and find out more about our history.

October-November 2015

We carefully start planning to make the world's first completely disease-free herd with German Piétain.

The contract with the German breeding company German Genetic is signed and we plan for the arrival of the pregnant sows.

February 11, 2016

43 pregnant German Piétrain sows arrive in our isolated quarantine facility in Denmark from Germany.

The transport goes really well. The sows are treated and vaccinated to remain as healthy as possible in their pregnancy.

February - April 2016

Blood samples, nose swabs and faeces samples are taken in agreement with the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration, which approves the import.

The German sows are now Danish.

April 6, 2016

First of many caesarean sections is performed. The entire uterus is operated out, disinfected and transferred into a sterile room. Here the pigs are taken out of the uterus.

Mid May 2016

After a few minutes they are put into sterile boxes and transported to our farm where our staff receives them.

Mid May 2016

All caesarean section are performed with great success and a whole new herd has seen the light.

June - September 2016

The pigs grow and are getting big.

They are currently tested for all relevant diseases and today the herd is completely free from all SPF diseases (Specific Pathogen Free)and List 1 and 2 diseases (duty of notification), including MRSA.