VION Farming

The pig sector is a strong, professional sector. The focus is on the quality- and market-oriented production of safe and tasty pork products. This applies to both stockbreeding and the farming of pigs. Effective information exchange between the links in the chain is a key issue. At VION, VION Farming B.V. is responsible for the contacts with the pig farmers and breeders. For this purpose, VION Farming uses its own field service and specially developed information systems, and continuously maintains regular communication with all its contacts.

Supply
VION Farming is responsible for the supply of pigs from the farm to VION Food Netherlands abattoirs. VION Farming also organises the movement of piglets between the breeding unit and productive pig farm and the disposal of sows.

Field service
VION Farming field service employees are in regular contact with the pig farmer. They keep an inventory of animal flows and schedule the transport of the specified animals. They are responsible for the correct number of pigs of a quality concept being supplied at the right time to one of the abattoirs of VION Food Netherlands. They do this in close consultation with the Central Planning department in Boxtel.
In addition, VION Farming also has a number of helpdesks. Here, pig farmers can submit their questions, comments and reports on the transportation of their pigs.

The field service employees of VION Farming specialise in the supply of pigs and market-oriented production. They oversee the pig farmer where necessary and/or in operational management. In so doing they employ the concepts carcass value, management value and concept value. These three factors determine to a large extent the additional yield from the pig.

Carcass value is the weight of the carcass times the price per kilo. The price per kilo depends on the market situation, and is set weekly.
Concept value is a bonus for pig farmers whose production is market-orientated. If the pigs satisfy certain specifications, VION Farming then pays this bonus.
Management value is the value of the slaughter details of carcass and organs. These details can support the pig farmer in his operational management. For example, if a relatively large number of lung anomalies are found in a couple of pigs. The pig farmer can then alter the shed climate. This reduces costs, because it saves on the number of visits from the veterinary surgeon and on medicines, and the number of healthy pigs increases. 

Carcass value, concept value and management value together determine the yield from the pig.
These data are collected and supplied to the pig farmers via Farmingnet. This gives the VION Farming field service extra opportunities for providing support. In addition to data analysis, they can also make customised company comparisons for the pig farmer.

Dealers
VION Farming works with professional dealers in the Netherlands. These dealers are also responsible for the correct number of pigs of a quality concept being supplied at the right time to one of the slaughter sites of VION Food Netherlands. This requires close relationships with the pig farms, an understanding of logistical issues and a great talent for organisation. The dealers mainly have responsibility in the areas of logistics and quality. In addition, they contribute to the on-going quality improvement of the supplied pigs, for example by also analysing the data from Farmingnet.