Bertrams Landbrug

A nice place to be a piglet and a mother pig

The organic farm, Bertrams Landbrug near Jerslev in North Jutland, is run by 34-year-old Thomas Bertram. Here, Thomas keeps 260 sows, and the farm is run with a focus on ensuring the well-being of the sow and the piglet. That is why Thomas has developed a special farrowing hut (a hut where the mother pig can be with her piglets).

Pig maternity hotel

The farrowing huts have space for 4 sows (sows) with piglets in their own nest/pen, and there is the possibility of creating a pig corner with heat for the piglets. The sow and piglets can drink and eat from the feeding trough in the hut, and otherwise they can relax on the bed in a well-strewn bed. The idea is that the piglets and mother pig start with a small maternity hotel stay in a safe environment with food on the bed and an accompanying garden of 300 m2, which they can.

Pig life with soil under their nails

In November 2023, Bertrams Landbrug had the first slaughter pigs ready, who have lived their entire lives from birth to slaughter on their own fields. The pigs also end their lives on the farm, where they are euthanized, so that live animal transport is avoided.

Thomas’ slaughter pigs sleep and live in special mobile trailers that resemble campers with attached pens, so they have free access to grass and soil that they can dig around the clock. The campers are equipped with water and feed for free use and a bed in the form of a straw bed that the pigs can sleep in. The pens are moved around the stables so that new grass is added.

When the pigs have grazed, crops are grown

At Bertrams Landbrug, the pigs live in the field for about half a year at a time, and the pigs are given new pens on an ongoing basis. When the pigs have grazed, crops are grown in the fields, either in the form of wheat or barley for flour, or for feed for the pigs. The grain is spread with grass so that the field can be used for pig pens later, half of the area is harvested twice before pigs are brought onto the same area again. This contributes to green fields and high organic growth in the field.