Farm visit: Spacious sow farm for starting couple
The Dutch couple Sarah van den Berg and Dirk Thijssen have owned a sow farm in Eastern Germany since mid 2023. Their start has been great with many more piglets and much more profit than they had dreamt of.
Spacious, that is the right description of Thijberg Agrar, acquired by the Dutch couple Sarah van den Berg and Dirk Thijssen in 2023. The farm, in Naumburg, Saxony-Anhalt state, Germany, is home to 600 sows. The previous owners of the farm renovated it 12 years ago – and opted for that space. The facility, dating from communist times (pre-1990), was designed to have 2.8 m2 per sow. Each part of the farm looks spotless and clean.
The couple started looking for a farm of their own in early 2023. Life and earlier work experience had already made them acquainted with farming in Germany. By July, they had found the farm of their dreams across the border, with the selling party being a large agricultural entrepreneur who wanted to get rid of his sows. At a purchasing price of less than €1,000 per sow, the price was doable. Financing was formally arranged in late 2023, with the genetics and feed suppliers financing the initial months. 6 weeks after the purchase, after a cleaning and disinfection round, the first special pathogen free (SPF) sows walked in.
Expectations exceeded
The first year exceeded all expectations. At the first litter, the number of live-born piglets from the Danish Danic/PIC sows was 17.1. At the second, it had climbed to 18.3. Thijssen says: “We consciously opted for healthy and highly productive sows, from the first litter.” The animals live up to that. In late 2024, they were at 37.6 weaned piglets per sow per year, with 3% stillborn piglets and 11.2% mortality in the farrowing pen.
Van den Berg is responsible for farrowing and lactation. Raising this amount of piglets requires all her knowledge and skills. Virtually every day she is busy transferring piglets and creating foster sows. They wean 13.5 piglets at their own mothers. The sows are in the farrowing pen for four weeks; the piglets, however, stay with their mothers for a maximum of 23 days, as many foster sows are needed.
The couple is in the process of transition: to improve the sows’ rearing capacity, they currently use Topigs Norsvin’s Z-line via rotational crossbreeding. Van den Berg says: “We aim for maximum production, but not at all cost. In the long term, we will have to aim for pigs with long tails. Then what you want is stability in the pig house and piglets growing well.”
Feeding the sows and the piglets
Sow mortality levels are at 7.3%, a percentage that is unacceptable for the owners. The sows can manage their job as they receive a lot of care as well as 1,300 kg of grain-rich quality feed per year. There is no second litter syndrome, and coming in heat also gets going well, even though that also requires craftsmanship. Thijssen says: “We have abandoned all feed advice and we do not economise on feed. We measure the back fat thickness of the sows as an indication, and above all we continue to observe the animals very carefully.”
In the farrowing pen, the sows receive feed 3 times a day, up to 9.5 kg of pelleted feed per animal. During gestation, the sows receive gilt nutrition for the first 5 weeks after insemination, as it comes with slightly higher energy rations and protein supplies than regular sow feed. The sows in the gestation room also have unlimited water from a long trough.
In the piglet house, reducing the weaning dip is a matter of attention. A large number of the piglets is growing well, but some visibly need more time to catch up. Using additional feeding bowls with mash, the couple aims to make it easier for the weaners to start eating. In addition, the piglets already receive pre-starter in the farrowing pen as from day four. 1 week before weaning, they are being given a starter feed.
3 out of 4 weeks, the piglets are being sold to the previous owner of the sow farm, without middlemen, hence the 2 parties can share that extra margin. Once every 4 weeks, a group of 450 piglets is sold to a trader. All in all, about 6% of the piglets is sent to slaughter at this stage.
Financially sunny
Their farm is at the border of Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia states, where manure is in high demand. Hence, getting rid of manure does not cost a penny. At the time of the visit, the farm’s financial situation was sunny anyway. Van den Berg says, “We budgeted for 31 piglets per sow. It was great when that number turned out to be higher; we have made good money. The timing was just right, as piglet prices were high in 2023.”
The buildings and their inventory are in good condition, so Thijssen and Van den Berg do not expect any major investments in the coming years. Thijssen says: “For the first 10 years we’d like to go full throttle and produce piglets. In the meantime, we’ll see if anything comes our way to further expand.” Van den Berg adds, “And we’re really enjoying ourselves here.”
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