Centre of Excellence

Intelligent neonate nutrition

Exploring and refining our knowledge of neonates and the way nutrition influences lifetime performance is the only way to drive real progress.

So we’re investing heavily… we’re not only committing to £500k per annum in University research agreements, but we’re building our own state-of-the-art Innovation Farm in the leading swine producing market, Spain.

Our innovation farm include:

A cloud-based environmental and production control system
Automatic feeding, allowing individual feed delivery to individual pens
Links to the maternity farm, allowing pre-weaning nutrition evaluation
We are testing 50.000 piglets a year under commercial conditions
Smart ‘Insight’ feeders and electronically tagged piglets to record all data
Links to grower/finisher farms to fully explore lifetime performance

"We’re serious about innovation so we’re giving our experts all the freedom, empowerment, and resources to become a leading influence in safe, sustainable food production."

An ethos of research

Our commitment to research and development in the swine sector in Spain, Europe, and the world is reflected in this project. Our Center of Excellence has been established to reduce the gap between research environments, where new nutritional programs are developed, and production environments, where they are implemented, so that the results of our nutritional solutions are equally satisfactory in both environments.

The application farm allows us to recreate the most similar conditions to those of the production environments and, in turn, to demonstrate the benefits of a holistic approach to piglet nutrition, ensuring the welfare and optimal performance of the animals in all aspects.

What is Centre of Excellence?

The Centre of Excellence is our pig nutritional programs application farm, in a near-productive environment, allowing us to assess our products' efficacy and provide better solutions.

Featuring pioneering facilities in the sector, the Center of Excellence will enable us to conduct studies and gather information to understand and improve neonatal nutrition, providing a more comprehensive service and better technical assistance.

Capacity for 8,400 piglets

1,200 new piglets per week

6-week stay

In 7 rooms of 52 pens each

Intelligent pens (with PigInsight technology) for daily recording of:

Weight
Moisture
Feed intake
CO2
Water consumption
Ammonia
Indoor and outdoor temperature

Automatic systems

Mixing and delivery of feed, avoiding cross-contamination
Water dosing

The facilities, pioneering technology in the field

The Center of Excellence, which has pioneering facilities exclusive in Europe, is equipped with the most advanced technology, such as the automatic pig feed mixing and delivering systems, controlled by the computer software.

The farm, made up of 7 rooms with a capacity to accommodate 8,400 piglets, has systems for monitoring piglet growth and extracting essential information for testing and developing new nutritional solutions. In pens with PigInsight technology, piglets are electronically tagged and the facility allows individual weight, feed intake and water consumption to be recorded on a daily basis.

According to AB Neo's holistic vision of nutrition, the facilities are equipped to collect information on other environmental aspects that can influence the development of piglets, such as the internal and external temperature of the facilities, humidity and levels of Co2 and ammonia.

Technology and analysis

Feed: The feed is distributed more quickly using a pneumatic feeding system, which prevents cross-contamination. By using this system, we can administer different nutritional solutions within the same room and, thus, analyze the optimal growth of the animals.
Feeding data: We can compare different piglets within the same room based on their feed consumption data in order to determine the effectiveness of different nutritional programs.
Weighing data: all animals will be weighed a minimum of three times, recording progress.
PigInsight pens: we have 4 pens with a feeding system that allows individual recording of feed and water consumption of each piglet. These pens also have a scale in the drinking troughs, which allows the weight of each piglet to be recorded.

Ad-hoc studies

As part of our mission to offer customized nutritional plans, we offer our facilities to our clients, equipped with the most innovative technologies, to develop and test customized products and plans.

Sustainability

With its own solar panels, the Center of Excellence is able to consume clean energy and achieve greater energy autonomy.