Automatic washing of pig farms ensures high hygiene levels

The fast implementation of automatic washing of pig farms in Denmark leads the way to increased hygiene and efficiency internationally. Further, it creates a better working environment and heighten your biosecurity.

Maintaining high levels of hygiene is essential in modern pig production. By not having the most up-to-date equipment, pig farming can be labor-demanding. Denmark is a global leader in automation processes for pig farming that lead to high levels of hygiene and on top can reduce manual labor needed for the operations.

Washing robot increases work environment and biosecurity

The washing robot from the Danish company Washpower is today operating in more than 150 pig houses throughout Denmark. It removes the hard manual work of washing with high pressure washers and thus increase the working environment, as this is the most demanding part of the washing process. In addition, the general hygiene levels increase due to more attention on the final part of the washing process, being the soaping and disinfection process.

 automatic wash process is cut down from 5 hours per one section to 4, optimising existing working processes without compromising on quality and increases hygiene levels

The automatic washing process removes the need for external people in the farms which increases biosecurity and frees up time for the normal staff to take care of the piglets and pigs. Finally, the washing robot is often quicker in doing the job and it can run during the night. This increase the drying time enhancing the production cycle and thus increase earnings and biosecurity.

Increasing hygiene levels in the US

In 2019 the United States based Pipestone Veterinary Services reached out to Washpower to test the robot. The goals were clear: Pipestone wanted to improve the working environment, ensure fewer people in the farmhouses, increase hygiene levels and increase speed in the washing process without compromising on quality.

After a demonstration, Pipestone Veterinary Services found that the automatic washing process had met all their goals: Staff worked very limited with high pressure cleaning as the robot did all initial cleaning meaning that the washing process was cut down from 5 hours per one section to 4 hours. Number of staffs needed for the process was reduced from 2-3 people to 1 person, who only spend approx. 2 hours on the process. All in all, the hygiene levels were improved, staff motivation was improved substantially, and the time saved was allocated to other primary tasks in the farmhouses.

Following this test, Pipestone decided to assist other farms in US gaining the same results by entering a partnership with Washpower and let automatic washing to become a natural part of US farms in the future.