Developments in German production

摘要

To understand the rationale behind some of the displays in the pig halls of EuroTier, visitors to the November exhibition in Germany should first know a little about German pork production in 2006. The bare statistics show only that Germany can claimto have the largest on-farm numbers in the 25-nation European Union, even if its national inventory in May this year was 1.5% smaller than 12 months previously at 26.5 million pigs. A fact worth remembering in this connection is that the average German herd nationally now has 150 sows, still relatively small by international standards, although the structure is much more concentrated in the region of Niedersachsen or Lower Saxony around Hannover and in eastern areas of the country. Picture the typical sow unit nationwide as a piglet producer, selling its young pigs to another producer for growing and finishing, suggests Hans Hoevink, export manager at German equipment company Mannebeck. Weaning could be at 3 weeks or 4 weeks.