Cooperalfa completes largest ever sow import in Brazil
The Brazilian cooperative Cooperalfa carried out the largest sow import in the history of Brazil with the arrival of 900 breeding pigs for its new piglet production unit located in Sidrolândia city, in Mato Grosso do Sul state.
The grandparent sows, sold by Topigs Norsvin, are Large White breed, but their differential is the genetic variability of the Z line. The group came from the United States on a chartered flight and is in Brazil since April.
The route included the arrival at Viracopos Airport, in Campinas city, São Paulo state, on April 17, and the transfer to the Quarantine Station of Cananéia (EQC). Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) and the Brazilian Association of Pig Genetic Companies (ABEGS) maintain this particular station to attend strict sanitary protocols.
After that, the females went to Cooperalfa’s new piglet production unit. In addition, a second import of over 900 sows from the US will arrive in Brazil for the same unit of Cooperalfa later this year.
‘Exceptional project’
Marcos Lopes is technical director of Topigs Norsvin. He commented, “This is an exceptional project with a very high investment in infrastructure, technology, and the quality of the facilities that were built. The arrival of the females also represents the connection between the genetic centres in the United States and Canada with our customers in Brazil.”
Faster genetic development
Lopes explains that the high genetic value of female development in the commercial environment brings some advantages. Among them, faster genetic evolution in aspects such as daily weight gain, feed conversion, and robustness, due to greater genetic variability and also to the shorter availability of this imported material on a commercial level.
Animals of high genetic value
Adauto Candedo, the breeding company’s business and marketing director, said that the strategy of diversifying the location of animals with high genetic value is essential to offer more guarantees of supplying genetics to the market. “By investing in importing high genetic value females for the commercial farm, we allow our customers to have a level similar to that of our core farms, which are at the top of the pyramid of the best genetics in the world.”
Topigs Norsvin is also investing more than R$ 40 million (US$ 8.2 million) in a new genetic centre in Lages, Santa Catarina state, with a capacity to house 1,000 great-grandparents of high genetic value.
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