United Kingdom: survey of buildings being used for pig production

According to a BPEX survey commissioned to establish pig producers’ views of investment in buildings and associated new technology used for pig production in England, many buildings are at least 20 years old but producers can’t invest in replacements.

The key findings are:

• 90% of farms sampled stated that their current facilities were not ideal and they wished to invest in new buildings
• There is a wide range in time since investment was last made in new facilities but many producers have made no substantive replacement or extension to their housing in the past ten years
• Many pig producers still see improvement in physical performance, hence reducing the cost of production, as the main reason for contemplating investment in both facilities and new technology. But better use of labour and the desire to improve animal welfare also featured strongly.