エンリッチド・養豚
Improved Pig-Keeping
豊下勝彦 ポークランドグループ 代表
Katsuhiko TOYOSHITA

Representative, Porkland Group

Hello everybody. I am Katsuhiko

In running our farming operations, we basically center

Toyoshita and I farm pigs close to the

our thinking on local circulation and resourceside of Lake Toyoda Akita Prefecture,

circulation, etc. For example, at the Clean Center, we[Japan].

make compost from raw garbage produced by people
in the local area, thereby avoiding the need toOur pigs are sold in the market

incinerate this waste. Local farmers make use of thisunder the brand name ofcompost. The process is carried out under the idea of“Momobuta” (literally, “Peach Pig”). We started ourmaintaining a local circulation system that includes

farming operation in 1995 and the operation currently

organic growing. [Slide 4]

consists of three farms plus an industrial waste
processing company. In 1995, we began operating

Our pigs are the National Federation of Agricultural

Porkland and Kosaka Clean Center, and in 1997, weCooperative Associationsʼ ʻSPFʼ pigs, [slide 5]. The

opened Towada Ko Kogen Farm. Then, last year, webreeding pigs brought into our farms are from anstarted up a farm called Farmland. At the three farming

ancestral variety pig-breeding farm in Kamishihoro,

facilities, approx. 120,000 Momobuta are produced andHokkaido, a similar pig-breeding farm in Shizukuishi,

shipped each year. We are an ordinary corporate pigand a pig-breeding farm in Akita. No other pigs havefarming operation with 4,800 sows. [Slide 1]

ever been mixed in with these breeding pigs. With this,
we are making eﬀorts to promote traceability, as a result

To go into a little more detail, Parkland and Kogen Farmof which we have become the first pork producer inare basically windowless piggeries that are operated as

Japan to obtain JAS certification for traceability of ourordinary corporate pig farms. By contrast, at Farmland,

production records. We have also been certiﬁed under

pig fattening is carried out in a way that takes inthe NFACA safety system.

European animal welfare ideas. Later, Professor Kohari
will be giving an introduction to our farm, but I wouldAt our farms, even from the beginning we havealso like to talk a little about how the farm is operated.

employed two conﬂicting technologies, [slide 6] namely[Slide 2]

the sterilization and antibacterial production
technology called SPF, which is carried out by NFACA,

We run the farm under the motto of “Letʼs be happyetc., and the live bacteria technology known as BMW

doing agriculture” and we also place emphasis on(Bacteria Mineral Water). Through this, we are trying to“coexistence and co-prosperity”, “healthy seasonal andmake our pigs strong from the inside without recourse

traditional local food”, and “agriculture in which theto drugs as far as possible, and to raise the pigsʼ immune

producer is visible”. [Slide 3]

strength using a system of not permitting any disease
to be brought in from the outside, [slide 7]. Basically, in

Currently, we are employing about 108 agricultural non-our production system, we donʼt add antibiotics or

specialists who are working for us in a “salaryman” style,synthetic antibacterial drugs to the pigsʼ feed. We have

and we are moving ahead with the construction of acontinued to operate in this way ever since 1995.

system to allow such newcomers to work in theagricultural sector. [Slide 4]

Our companyʼs employees are almost all non-specialists.
Before I starting in this business, I myself had no24

ワークショップⅢ

産業動物の福祉と経営

previous experience with pigs either. I was originally athis.

JA worker, but as a result of a reorganization ofslaughterhouses in the northern area of Akita

Next year, under the banner of “To a nostalgic future,Prefecture, a JA-financed slaughterhouse calledback to the source,” we will reconstruct the interior of

Meatland came to be constructed in my local area,our farms anew, [slide 9]. In preparation for that wenecessitating an increase in pig production.

have been introducing new piggery systems such as

Accordingly, I was involved in the construction of a new

pasturage and biobed (fermentation floor and semi-

NFACA SPF farm in a variety of ways. But then I retiredpasturage). I am going to tell you a little about this infrom JA.

the last part of my talk. We are aiming to expand our“no-farm” in the future. Of course, this should be a low-

I was not involved in any processes from the halfway

cost piggery in many ways. For example, it will bestage or in piggery design, but in running the farming

constructed at low cost and it will also employ a low-operation I worked very hard and followed thecost management system with low running costs andestablished methods and rules. Later, Mr. Kuwajima ofminimal use of electricity. [Slide 10]

Pal Meat will be talking on this and related subjects, but
we had an encounter with Pal Meat and I became

This picture [slide 11] shows the biobed and pasturage

acquainted with many people including the producersʼ

system we are using now. This biobed piggery wascooperative organization, consumers and others.

constructed in 2003. First of all, it was constructed inThrough this, I began to entertain various doubts about

this way, and then the fermentation floor was heaped

the production method I had been engaged in up until

up to about 1.5 meters, which gave it this shape.

then.
Two years later in 2005, we had this dome, [slide 12].
Firstly, I feel that modern-style pig farming is production

This sort of snow-resistance dome is used in Antarctica,

merely for the convenience of people. In contemporaryetc. And compost is used in making the fermentation

pig farming, production is focused on productivity,

ﬂoor.

which entails spending a lot of money on such things aselectricity for windowless piggeries. This kind ofThis was made in 2006. This piggery houses about 600

production is aimed at preventing the development ofpigs. It was originally a compost depot, but we reformed

diseases in pigs by keeping them in a way that is easy toit into a piggery. Since then, we have successively

manage, keeping them at such a high density that theychanged the material of this. 2008 marked the sixth

are unable to move around freely, and administering

material change period.

lots of drugs as I mentioned earlier. I feel that piggeriesof this kind are akin to prisons. The temperature inside

During this period, for the biobed floor material, we

these piggeries is strictly controlled by blocking oﬀ theused sawdust or rice husks, etc, and to get fermentation

sunlight as much as possible, and they donʼt provide

going we added various things such as lactic bacteria,

the sort of environment that pigs like. The farmers givebacillus natto, lactobacillus fermentum, etc. We use thisthem no opportunities for digging holes, runningmaterial as a ﬂoor material for our piggeries.

around or bathing. So I question whether it is right tokeep pigs in this way.

Another thing is pasturage, [slide 13]. Our land area
covers approximately 70 hectares. We have madeBy providing the sort of living environment that pigs

pasturage for 1,600 pigs using previously vacant land.

like, we can help ensure that the pigs live moreWhen you look closely at this you can see that the line

comfortably in keeping with the sentiment written on

weeds disappear within three days. Pigs have an

this slide, “Make people and pigs happy together”, [slide

enormous ability to reclaim land in this way.

8]. I feel that the system introduced here does precisely

Workshop Ⅲ Welfare and Management of Farmed Animals

25

At the moment, we are trying out four kinds ofmanagement. These are ordinary windowless piggery
management, management in groups of 400 pigs byeliminating fences, biobed management using
fermentation floors in groups of 400 pigs (semipasturage), and pasturage. From this year, Pal System isselling pork produced by pasturage and biobed
management on a trial basis under its own name as abrand that is challenging the issue of animal welfare.
Also from this year, we are trying to carry out animal䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷䋱䇽

welfare from breeding to delivery on a consistent basis,[slide 14]. We are planning to try out around 300 piglets
using a system that uses a slightly reformed existing
piggery and the biobed system I mentioned earlier onan experimental basis.
In the course of our attempt to raise our production
from the present 120,000 pigs to 320,000 pigs annually,
we are going to employ this kind of animal welfare
approach all over our farms. Under these circumstances,
all in all, pig production will be the key issue, and we䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪉䇽wish to produce an additional 200,000 pigs underpasturage, mainly using biobed management. A major
but basic concern often voiced is that pig production
eﬃciency will decline under pasturage, but this will nothappen. It may have to be done in a roundabout way,
but I think the additional production will be possible
without loss of productivity, [slide 15]. Not only that, inkeeping with what was written about making people
happy, those on the keeper side can get a very happy
feeling by employing animal welfare-oriented pig
rearing that includes using such pasturage. So rather䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪊䇽than a major concern, this is a happy result for us, and infuture, while proceeding in this way, we intend topromote this system so that it becomes our mainstream
pig raising system. Thank you very much for listening,[Slide 16].

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ワークショップⅢ

産業動物の福祉と経営䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪌䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪐䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪍䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈㪇䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪎䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈㪈䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㩷㪏䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈㪉䇽Workshop Ⅲ Welfare and Management of Farmed Animals

27䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈㪊䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈㪋䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼㪈㪌䇽䇼㪪㫃㫀㪻㪼 䋱㪍䇽28

ワークショップⅢ

産業動物の福祉と経営