Presentation video of the Vanggaard farrowing hut for outdoor pig production

– by Pia Vanggaard (Vanggaard)

Vanggaard Staldmontage ApS is a small Danish company with more than 25 years of experience in setting up stable equipment, feed systems, water, silos etc. within the conventional pig sector. In summer/autumn 2016, Vanggaard was contacted by a young organic farmer who wanted to develop a farrowing wagon for outdoor pig production, where there was a high focus on animal welfare and a good working environment for the farmer – this as an alternative to the well-known, traditional, low A- huts on the market, where especially the working environment for the farmer was very bad/poor. The collaboration with the young organic farmer was the starting point for Vanggaard’s first development project within the creation of innovative farrowing huts with a focus on high animal welfare and a good working environment for the farmer. The first test huts (path sites for 4 sows) were put into use in the summer of 2017 and the hut design was continuously adjusted in 2017 + 2018, when several Danish farmers with outdoor pig production tested the farrowing huts.

In the development project, Vanggaard Staldmontage worked together with Aarhus University and a few Danish professional organizations within ecology and outdoor pig production, which in 2019 led to Aarhus University and Vanggaard Staldmontage entering into a collaboration regarding participation in yet another development project – the PPILOW EU project under Horizon 2020, among other things with the aim of further developing Vanggaard’s newly developed farrowing hut to a (common) EU hut design, with a view to the development of a design that could be used in EU countries with both cold/warm climates and at the same time working towards the reduction of the well-known challenge factor of high piglet mortality, which is unfortunately the reality in outdoor pig production. As part of the PPILOW project, a presentation video of Vanggaard’s farrowing hut was produced. Watch the video, where the previously mentioned Danish, young organic farmer talks about the thoughts behind the innovative hut design, shows the hut functions in practice, including the effortless/easy moving of the huts with the patented moving unit. In the video, Aarhus University also presents the planned PPILOW test trials, which was carried out by the Aarhus University with a view to collect test data that contributes to greater knowledge about the minimization of piglet mortality in outdoor farrowing huts. In the PPILOW project, the presentation video of Vanggaard’s farrowing hut was used, among other things, in 3 NPG workshops, where farmers from several EU countries with an interest in outdoor pig production participated, which resulted in 2 farmers from France, 2 farmers from Italy and 1 farmer from Belgium (a total of 8 test huts) agreed to test Vanggaard’s EU hut design for farrowing huts. By watching the video, you will get a good insight/knowledge into the design of Vanggaard’s farrowing hut and the hut’s functionality.

© all Photos Vanggaard