Hungarian company invests heavily in sow management and piglet rearing

Sow management in Telekgerendás

Sow management in Telekgerendás

The agricultural company FirstFarms Hungary Kft. has invested more than eight billion forints (approx. EUR 21.7 million) in the construction of two pig farms in South Hungary. The locations in Telekgerendás and Pusztaföldvár (Békés county) have been designed in such a way that the operators can double the area in the foreseeable future.

The project garnered much interest from the trade press; among others, Agrárágazat reported in June 2023. Article by courtesy of Agrárágazat.

Realisation in just 14 months

A farm for 2,000 sows was constructed in Telekgerendás, while the piglets are reared in Pusztaföldvár. Just a bit more than a year after the groundbreaking ceremony on 24 February 2022, FirstFarms Hungary Kft. and the mostly local construction partners had already added the finishing touches. On an area of nearly 18,500 m², 750 tons of steel, 20,000 m² of sandwich panels and 1,750 truck loads of concrete were poured into the project.

View into the boar pen — The separate boar pen is also supplied with heat generated from slurry.

Focus on animal welfare and environmental protection

The buildings have been equipped with innovative technologies and automated systems. The investors were very committed to using renewable energies. For example, power is supplied by solar modules, and a technology that is currently unique in Hungary generates heat from slurry: Thermal energy produced in the slurry pits is collected in pipes and transferred to the heating system via a heat pump.

The modern housing technology was provided by the German pig equipment supplier Big Dutchman:

Feed: The feed reaches the pigs via weighed silos and closed pipe systems.
LED: Natural lighting is enhanced by LED lamps that have a special night mode.
Pig house management: Computers monitor the set target values. The user can change these values, including with mobile devices.
Power supply: Up to 60 % of the farms’ energy comes from renewable sources.

Expansion of crop production

FirstFarms Hungary Kft. took over an agricultural company last year, branching out to the arable crop industry. They currently have around 500 hectares available and want to expand these areas, aiming at being able to produce their raw pig feed materials independently and to distribute the slurry on their own grounds.

Largest investment of the company’s history

The Danish FirstFarms group has been listed on the Copenhagen stock exchange since December 2006 and has around 2700 stockholders. The group employs around 400 staff, has subsidiaries in four countries and 17 production locations.

In Slovakia, FirstFarms keeps 3,000 dairy cows. Together with the locations in the Czech Republic and Hungary, the group produces 165,000 piglets and 100,000 finishing pigs per year in the region. Cultivated areas amount to 21,000 hectares.

Before the takeover in 2017, FirstFarms Hungary Kft. operated under the name Dan-Farm Hungary Kft. The company currently has a breeder farm with 2,500 sow places in Gádoros in South Hungary. Upon reaching a weight of seven kilograms, the piglets are transported to the neighbouring village of Orosháza, where they continue to grow until they reach a weight of 30 kilograms.

With the new sow house in Telekgerendás, the number of the company’s sow places has risen to 4,500.

Plans for expansion

This most recent investment in two locations is planned to be the first step on the way to a 4,000-head sow farm. The management of FirstFarms Hungary Kft. is hoping to convince investors to construct more buildings on both farms after successful completion of this project. Their goal is doubling the current number of sows and piglets.