2024-08-20 07:20:06
In central China, in Ezhou, the world’s largest pig is camouflaged in a tall building. Worthy of science fiction, established over 26 floors, the farm is enough to make you shudder. Cause? Produce 1.2 million pigs per year, to feed the world’s largest pork consuming country.
A special representative of The echoes offers a new look at what appears to be another high. Since its opening at the end of 2022, the house has housed more than 150,000 pigs. All are under surveillance, thanks to hundreds of surveillance cameras. Soon, the score will even extend to 600,000 animals, because the second high center should be built by the end of the year, allowing the number of pigs to increase dramatically. At full capacity, at least 1.2 million pigs will be raised and slaughtered each year in these establishments.
After swine fever, the recovery of the country’s production is going well: there are now almost 200 farms of this type in China. In Enzhou, the two farms mentioned have 390,000 square meters each. To avoid blocking this large machine, the third building is used to provide 500,000 tons of feed for pigs. Thanks to this proximity, animals can even be fed without human intervention. Conveyor belts allow feed to be moved directly to the bins. In addition to this technology, careful monitoring allows different levels such as light, temperature or humidity to be observed in real time.
While African swine fever has reduced 40% of Chinese livestock between 2018 and 2020, pork production is seeking new impetus, with agricultural programs that encourage the construction of “mega multi-farms” in order to be responsible for the delay in this breeding. , which is important for powerhouse countries. These unique farms will make it possible to improve the prevention and control of animal diseases thanks to the technological innovations developed there.
Unless some experts agree that they are in fact “real time bombs”. If a virus manages, despite all this precaution, to find its way into this type of home, the damage will be great. According to an expert interviewed by the French media, pigs raised in this type of infrastructure “live very little and therefore can quickly get sick if they are not forced to take antibiotics regularly”. And therein lies the problem. Because in addition to feeding the animal with drug residues, bacteria can eventually develop resistance to these antibiotics. In such a situation, if this happens, it is a disaster.
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