Every week, the pig slaughterhouses of
Vion in the Netherlands are disposing 500 tonnes undigested feed, coming from
the intestines of the pigs. The disposal costs of this feed are around
On average, a carcass contains 3 to 3.5 kilos of
undigested feed. Besides the costs involved, the risk of bacterial
contamination increases when undigested feed is in contact with the carcass.
Vion therefore recommends that farmers sell their pigs with an empty stomach.
Saving feed costs
This also lowers the feed costs for the farmer, says Maartien Kusters, managing
director operations at the Fresh Meat division from Vion. The feed
is not converted into meat anymore and we therefore recommend to stop feeding pigs
12 to 16 hours before they are transported to the abattoir. To give an example:
A pig with a slaughter weight of 91 kilos that was brought in with an empty
stomach is around 4.4 kilos heavier than a pig that is fed till the end of
his life. When the dry matter percentage from the stomach and intestines is 35%, normally
around 1.5 kilos dry matter is lost. At a feed price of € 0.18 per
kilo dry matter, it will cost the farmer €0.28 per sold pig. By not feeding the pigs
prior to slaughtering, a farmer who sells 5000 pig annually, could save around
In some Vion slaughterhouses a pilot is currently running, in
which farmers receive an overview of the weight of the contents of the
intestines. Related link:
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