ANIMAL HEALTH AND WELFARE: PIG
Animal welfare is important to us and we want to make sure animals have good living conditions. All the Finnish pig farms in our contract production are part of the national pig farm health classification register Sikava (ISO 9001 certified) and the assessment of pig welfare is based on the fundamental principles of the scientific Welfare Quality® system.
The well-being of production animals consists of many factors. We work to improve animal health and welfare in cooperation with primary producers, transportation partners, authorities, Eläinten Terveys ry and Sikava. Treating animals well is important to us for various reasons: it corresponds to our ethical principles and supports sustainable development of our operations, leading to profitable growth.
Our contract production farms are committed to following HKFoods guidelines, in addition to the regulations set by the EU and national laws and regulations. Our contract facilities meet the national level requirements of Sikava's health care system.
Animal welfare based on good care
Pigs are naturally social animals interested in exploring their environment. Pigs also have an established hierarchy within their group. A special characteristic about pigs is that they are unable to perspire like most mammals, and the temperature in a pen needs to be set accordingly.
We want to make sure animals have good living conditions. That is why we observe and are actively involved in research projects concerning the species-typical behavior of pigs. In addition, we monitor Sikava's animal welfare index on a farm-by-farm basis and use this information in our advisory work.