More Feed Space For Top Performance

Ezra Baer kneels in his 1,100-head nursery equipped with Farmweld Flooring System, nursery feeders, gating and water cups.

Ezra Baer was concerned about per-pig feeder space when he approached Kevin Schnarre in the Farmweld booth at the 2007 Minnesota Pork Congress. Ezra was planning to build a new, 1,100-head nursery with an adjoining 2,300-head finishing unit. Ezra is a contract nursery-finish producer and receives weanling pigs every nine weeks.

Originally, Ezra obtained bids for nursery equipment from a competitive equipment manufacturer. He then decided to check out Farmweld’s equipment knowing his cousin, Benedikt, was complimentary of the feeders, flooring, gating and cups he had purchased a year earlier.

“The other company’s 8-hole feeder was a cheaper feeder, but we did the math, and we were going to be short on feeder space,” explains Ezra. Schnarre recommended 10-hole feeders for Ezra’s planned 40-head nursery pens in order to allow 1.5” (3.81 cm) of feeder space per pig.

“If you limit feeder space, growth and feed efficiency will be affected, and you will have more tail-ender pigs and runts,” says Schnarre. He emphasizes the importance of wide, deep feed spaces to give pigs room to eat naturally without turning their heads or moving in and out of the feeder as they eat. This is especially important as pigs grow. “Pigs should be comfortable while they eat to optimize their growth,” Schnarre says.

Built to endure

Ezra was also impressed with Farmweld’s attention to details such as the way gating is designed and manufactured. Farmweld’s solidrod gates have heavy-duty posts at every intersection. (Ezra opted for horizontal rod gating rather than the standard vertical rod nursery gating.) Nursery gating accommodates pigs from 7# (3.18 kg) to 90# (41 kg) with 30” (762 mm) overall height.

Ezra’s adjoining finishing facility also contains Farmweld Jumbo Feeders, gating and cups. Ezra says he considered other feeder designs but selected Farmweld’s stainless steel feeders with highcapacity hoppers in order to assure pigs had access to several hours’ worth of feed, even in power outages.

Ezra opted for the Flip-to-Clean™ feature which allows the entire feeder to be rotated in place for cleaning. “Feeders of that size are heavy, and with the Flip-to-Clean, you can easily flip them and get underneath. I think you get a better wash job in the end,” Ezra says.

Feed efficiency and growth have been excellent in both the nursery and finishing facilities and Ezra says he’ll repeat the design when he expands his operation. “Everything works great,” he says.