Spain Golden Pig Awards 2017
Over 800 professionals from the pork producing industry attended the Award Ceremony of the XXIV Porc D’Or Awards for excellence in the city of Segovia. At this event, the Institute for Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA), organiser of the awards, together with the co-organiser Zoetis, presented 49 statuettes to a total of 38 pork producers from six autonomous regions.
The highest award, the Diamond Porc D’Or , went to the Sanglas Farm in San Cebrián de Castro, Zamora, belonging to the Batallé Group. This award is given to the Farm judged to be the very best overall from those nominated. In the words of the adjudicating jury, the Sanglas farm, which began its activity in 2012 and has 3,300 breeding sows, “brings together productivity, profitability, respect for the environment, animal welfare, an excellent team of staff, high levels of technology, and optimum health standards.”
For “Health, Animal Welfare and the Environment”, La Puebla – Agropecuaria del Isábena Farm, located in the province of Huesca and owned by the Mazana Piensos Compuestos company, won the special Porc D’Or Award from the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture.
Meanwhile, the Sant Martí Farm located in Sant Martí de Centelles (Barcelona), and owned by Pinsos Grau, S.A., continued to sets records, winning the Porc D’Or for Maximum Productivity for fourth year in a row, with 37,86 piglets weaned per breeding sow per year.
As a new category this year, the special Zoetis Porc D’Or Zoetis Award for Innovation was introduced, as a means of recognising and promoting innovation at Spanish pig farms. This award went to the Balsa de Ves Farm of, located in Albacete, and owned by the Afrivall – Vall Companys Group.
Seven autonomous regions and 38 farms
In addition to these four special awards, 45 more prizes were presented for Birth Rate (TP), Numeric Productivity (NP) and Piglets Weaned per Retired Sow (LDCB). In each of these categories, Gold, Silver and Bronze statuettes were given for first, second and third place winners respectively in each of five categories. The farms are grouped according to their number of breeding sows (1st category10-200 sows; 2nd 201-500; 3rd 501-1,000; 4th 1,001 to 2,000; and 5th 2,001 or more).
By autonomous region, Catalonia achieved first place, with 21 awards. Aragon came in second place, with seven Porc D’Or awards, and Castille and Leon maintained the third-place ranking with six statuettes. It was followed by Navarre, with five; Galicia, with three; and Castilla-La Mancha and La Rioja, with one statuette each.
The Porc D’Or awards are based on the BDporc (Spanish Pork Database), which is managed by IRTA. This database analyses the information from 850,000 breeding sows at 700 farms across Spain.
The award winners were selected by a jury made up of professionals and recognised experts from the pork industry, livestock investigation and government.
The Spanish pork sector’s grand celebration
The Porc D’Or Awards have become an highly important annual event for animal husbandry in general, and for the pork producing industry in particular. Producers and experts, companies and individuals associated with pig farming, and local, regional and national government bodies from all over Spain participate in the celebration of these awards each year.
Twenty-four years recognising excellence
The Institute for Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA) established the Porc D’Or Awards in 1994, as a way of recognising pig breeders and companies who were capable of overcoming the new challenges which continue to arise in this industry. Due to their professionalism, hard work and the use of the best production techniques, they are spearheading the future of the Spanish pork sector.
In their in their 24th year, the Porc D’Or Awards are not only well-established, but they have also become a benchmark for Spanish pig farms and companies, who see them as a hallmark of recognition of excellence in the industry.
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