A-One Visit Nutrifair in Denmark
19 Oct 2012
A-One exhibited at Nutrifair in Denmark this year. This is a dedicated show looking at the advancements in nutrition. Here you can find out what went on.
Nutrifair 2012.
This January A-One feed supplements were proud to be part of Nutrifair, the very first nutrition specific show in Denmark. The turnout was spectacular, with over 5,000 people attending over two days, smashing the predicted number of 2,000. I was amazed at how the show succeeded in targeting it's audience, although only small, the trade stands all had a nutrition related theme. The majority of the stands were feed companies, like ourselves, although every aspect of feeding livestock was covered, from inventive new feeding systems through to impressive building designs. Everyone had gone out of their way producing spectacular displays to attract attention. These included bags of live killer flies that eat the larvae of harmful flies in pig units to free samples of ice cream made from colostrum! One of the busiest stands was Danish Crown with producers gathering to watch laptop presentations. I was particularly taken by one stand offering fibre glass outdoor pig arcs. These seemed more like hotels for pigs with there huge surface area and escape shelf for piglets, but at a price of £1,400 per arc I found myself asking the questions "is there actually anything wrong with good old British outdoor housing and who really will buy these?!". I was on the other hand extremely impressed with some of the ranges of farrowing crates on offer. One such welfare farrowing crate was designed to give the piglets much more room to suckle from the sow but also escape out of the crate into a separate area, minimizing crushing . The crate also allowed much more movement for the sow and was an overall better farrowing environment.
Talking to other exhibitors who were frequent partakers in Denmark's larger agricultural show, Agromek, I was surprised at how much more relevant this show was. People felt Agromek had become to commercialised and attracted a different crowd to those present at Nutrifair. Trade stands were full all day with curious producers keen to improve their own systems and knowledge of nutrition. It was a great chance to talk to some Danish producers and understand their way of production. I was amazed at how easy it was to keep their units simple by adding on extra rooms to existing buildings creating a flow of pigs through the unit.
As a new nutritionist to the industry I found the show a huge learning curve. Previously I had been warned of how different Danish ways were but too my surprise I found that these producers are encountering exactly the same problems as our producers in the U.K and using pretty much the same solutions to resolve them. I was however surprised to find no startling new inventions from the Danes. Back in the UK I have been bombarded with how the Danes are so far ahead of us but in terms of technical new inventions I found we all appear to be at the same level. The show was also a great opportunity to meet new people within the industry and learn about new raw materials and feeding programmes. It was fantastic to see even a few of our UK producers had made the trip! I can safely say that my time at Nutrifair helped broaden my knowledge on all aspects of nutrition which I hope will help me in my future career. I would recommend a trip to Nutrifair next year and hope to see something similar organised in the UK as nutrition is such an important aspect of the pig industry. All though some may find it a dry subject, I feel it is important everyone has as much knowledge available to them to create a stronger relationship with your nutritionist.