A new home from Tarannà Familiar gives young sows a splendid start

We are taking you with us to Catalonia in Spain. Between the villages of Aitona and Seros lies a pig farm from Tarannà Familiar. Guerau Serentill, owner of the company and operator of this site, is happy to show us round.

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Let's start with the new houses. They provide accommodation to 1,200 sows and are part of a pig farm with 3,000 sows in total.

New Farms set up the installation and equipped the houses with a Roxell feeding system and Fancom ventilation. Whenever we ask Guerau why he chose New Farms, his answer is clear, "this is what you want, if you are looking for quality."

We ask him what drives the operator to build a special compartment for young sows. Guerau says that these young animals have specific needs. And he also wants to prepare them properly for their introduction to the older group of sows. But above all he wishes to avoid the introduction of diseases as far as possible. Don't forget that only a healthy group of sows can lead to healthy piglets.

Guerau explains to us further how he has divided up his pig farm. There are 4 zones: a quarantine house, a gilt reception house, a training house and a breeding house.

Quarantine house and gilt reception house with strong feeder pans

In the quarantine house and the gilt reception house the young sows slowly settle in to their new accommodation. Here we find the Blu’Hox™ feeder pans from Roxell. These bins have a round feeder pan in polymer concrete*. They combine well defined feed and drink places in one location. Thanks to the round shape there is also no accumulation of feed in corners. In addition, the Blu'Hox is very robust, which makes it one of the strongest and most durable feeder pans on the market. Thanks to the clever shape of the feeder pan – its anti-waste rim and the perfectly placed drink nipples – it is also guaranteed to give the best feed conversion.

Gilt training house and breeding house with a flexible individual feeding system

If the animals are of the appropriate age and weight, they go to the gilt raising house. Here they settle into their new lodging and individual feeding system. Then they migrate to the breeding house, where they will stay until they are 8 weeks pregnant. The feeding installation here also looks very durable and robust. In both zones you can find Dos7™-dispensers, 424 drop feeders in total. 

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A lot of flexibility

The Dos7 installation has a very high-performance and fully automated opening system. It gives the farmer a lot of flexibility in the number of meals and timing. This also gives them a good time saving. The Dos7 has a pear-shaped connection that prevents feed loss. 2 Roxell Discaflex™ circuits fill the feeding system. And all of that helps give each animal the alloted quantity of feed at the right moment.

Over to the gestation house

When the sows are 8 weeks pregnant they go to the existing gestation house in the farm. They remain in the houses until 1 week before giving birth.

It is clear from Guerau's story: when setting up his operation he made well-founded choices and by doing so gave his young sows a splendid start in their new lodging.

Do you want to learn more about Roxell systems at Tarannà Familiar?

  • In Spain contact New Farms
  • All questions from other countries can be directed to Roxell or your local Roxell dealers. Go to our website and click on 'find distributor' to find a dealer near you.
hog feeder Blu'Hox farm

*At the end of 2018 Roxell is introducing/has introduced Roxell Blu' Hox feeder pans in stainless steel instead of polymer concrete.