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FIVE STAR PIG HOTEL

The most modern Bulgarian pig farm in village Mechkarevo, Sliven municipality is designed, constructed and equipped by company Agritop.
Tania Demirova, newspaper Bulgarian Farmer
 
Village Mechkarevo, Sliven municipality
130 days old pig already weighs 87 kg. When the animals are 170 days old they weigh 120 kg. This unique result for Bulgaria is achieved in the most modern pig farm, if it is a hotel, will be a five star hotel. In the farm which is located in Mechkarevo are kept 1400 animals. Starting from scratch, construction work was accomplished in one year, tells the popular farmer from Sliven Petar Baichev (holder of the award Agro businessman of the year, nominated by newspaper Bulgarian Farmer during 2000). A serious investment of 2 170 000 lv was made in the farm, but the conditions are really unique. From this amount 940 000 lv are subsidized from clause 121 “Modernizing of farming” from Program Growth of village regions 2007 – 2013 and 1 million with a bank loan.
In the process of building a modern farm apart from the financing also of high importance is who will prepare the project. You can imagine how many offers Petar Baichev has received. As an experienced agro businessman he made a research and picked the company Agritop.
I did not go wrong, it is very high quality implementation, said Baichev. I have seen other animal farms built up by the experts in Agritop. They offered me a very high quality German equipment responding with all European requirements for humane animal keeping, said pleased the agro businessman.
We made the entire project, construction and equipment (company SCHULTZ) of the pig farm, said the trade manager of Agritop Momchil Taskov. In the equipment is included a computer for climate control, nutrition and ventilation. Animals are kept in separate cubicles for sows and group cubicles for growing animals for fattening. Feeding is organized with automated feeding lines, group feeders and individual pipe partitions for sows. Pigs are given birth in labor pipe cubicle equipped with plastic grate floor for the newborns and grate cast iron floor for the sows, feeder and drinking point. The cooling system in the farm is with nozzles and water mist.
And the muck, which is usually a problem for almost every Bulgarian farm is led with a muck pump in metal muck lagoon – 1100 cubic meters. Thus overflowing and contamination is avoided, explains Momchil Taskov. Thus the requirements of the so called Nitrate directive are complied with. Miracles do not end here. Twelve hours a day classical music is played in the pig farm. Apart from this the good looking pigs are playing with balls, as some of the balls are hanged above the cubicles and are adjusted according to the animal’s height. Not only the small pigs enjoy and play with the balls but also the adult ones, said the animal doctor Velin Cholakov. He explains that in result of the good living conditions the pigs are extremely calm (there is no cannibalism and the weaning of the piglets is normal) and feeding well. This explains the exceptional constant growth of 700 gr. per day from birth to the end of the fattening period, says the manager of the farm Stanimir Dechev. We hope to achieve more improvements in the coming farrows, he said. Annually in the farm in Mechkarevo are fattened 2500-2800 pigs, 110-115-120 kg. Danchev who has a lot of experience in keeping pigs says that with this weight pork has best flavor characteristics for heat treatment. Great results are achieved with the birth rate of the farrow. Birth of life yield has increased with 70%, as first farrow 11 pigs. The goal is for second and third farrow 12-13 life yield, thus the world pig keeping standards will be achieved. As everything in the farm is automatic the personal consists of four people – one per shift. The pigs are fed with own production fodder, as only starter fodder and soya grist are bought.
Petar Baichev cultivates 1700 hectares of land. Some of the production – rape, barley, wheat, coriander, sunflower seed, maze he sells and the rest stores in his own grain storage base and uses it for fodder. Being a real agro businessman Baichev has closed the manufacture cycle with new modern butchery, responding to all European requirements, cutting plant, sausage workshop with contemporary equipment. Finished goods are transported to 12 own shops in Sliven, the near villages and to one restaurant on the seaside.
No doubt Petar Baichev knows and applies successfully the recipe for effective modern farming.