ORDELMAN FARM: The Netherlands

Dutch pig farmer Erik Ordelman, age 40, moved to the village of Kilder, the Netherlands about five years ago, as he was looking for a site to expand his business. At the current site he has 400 sows, with another 350 at a different location. He hopes to expand his sow herd to 1,0000 at the Kilder site.

Lung problems can be related to the air quality inside a pig house. Farm activities that affect the air quality include; the cleaning of pig housing using high pressure spraying equipment...

...and large amounts of dust can occur through trough filling with solid feed particles.

Other well known causes for air problem - difficult to catch on a picture - are of course ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and acetic acids in the pig house, and tiny particles of soil, microorganisms and pig skin. In order to fight his lung problems, Ordelman quit smoking and has been wearing a mask inside the pig house for 18 years now.

Ordelman believes the mask really helps him breathe normally. The mask consists of a package with two tubes, with carbon filters.

The filters need to be changed every now and then. According to Ordelman a mask can be used for 1.5 to two years. He wears the mask 30-40 hours/week.

A quick look inside the farm – like on the vast majority of farms in the Netherlands, anaesthesia is used on young piglets prior to castration. The first step in young piglet treatment on this farm, however, is an iron injection. The animals are not vaccinated.

Next, the male piglets are anaesthesised using this anaesthesising device in which three piglets can be put to sleep at the same time, using a mixture of carbon dioxide gas (CO2) and oxygen (O2).

Once the piglets are fully anaesthesised, they can be castrated.

Sows are the only animals on-farm to be vaccinated: they receive shots for PRRS, Swine Influenza, E.coli and parvovirus. According to future EU legislation, dry sows are group housed using free access stalls. They are fed a mix of wheat, barley and soy pulp.

Ordelman weans on average 27 piglets per sow per year. His piglets are sold to finishing farms at day 70 weighing 25 kg. The piglets are fed dry pelletised feed, which includes a wide variety of ingredients.