L P D - Dirk Sandering has no use for words like "would have, should have, could have" or "should have". His motto is "do". And for the young farmer, that means above all making the family business "fit for the future". To this end, the 32-year-old, who farms 900 hectares (ha) of arable land and around 4,000 pig fattening places together with his wife Anne in Hemsloh in the district of Diepholz in Lower Saxony, has invested a large sum of money in the construction of animal welfare-friendly stables. Reason enough for the CeresAward experts to send the "doer with the courage to take risks" to the final round of the competition organized by the trade magazine "agrarheute" in the pig farming category. The award ceremony will take place on October 30.

The new fattening barn, which will go into operation in 2023, is based on a new straw housing concept and combines high-tech and animal welfare in an exemplary way. For example, an AI-controlled robot ensures that the straw bedding in the barn is tailored to the animals' needs. The fattening pigs are kept there with curly tails and in accordance with housing level 3, i.e. a fresh air barn with plenty of space. The public can also see this for themselves: a visitor room provides a direct insight into the barn. The farm, which is geared towards regionality and the circular economy, is rounded off by a sophisticated energy concept with wind power, a biogas plant and photovoltaics, which makes it around 70 percent self-sufficient in terms of electricity and 100 percent self-sufficient in terms of heat.

2400 fattening places are available in the new barn. Sandering is fattening a further 1600 or so pigs in a level two barn. The high-tech barn consists of four segments with pens in which each animal has 1.3 square meters of space. One outer wall is open from chest height and lets in daylight and fresh air. Fresh water and feed are available to the animals at all times via dispensers, and a robot on rails on the ceiling trickles straw into the pens every day. Always in piles, which the pigs distribute themselves in the holding pen. According to Sandering, the animals are very well-balanced thanks to the activity and space.

The Hemsloh native has tailored the size of the new pigsty to the energy concept of his farm, which includes potato, grain and maize cultivation in addition to pig fattening. Manure and slurry are completely processed in the 99 kW biogas plant. The roofs of the new stables, which are equipped with photovoltaic systems, were designed for optimum electricity consumption. According to Sandering, the farm is already self-sufficient in terms of heat supply, with electricity from the PV system covering 60 to 65 percent of demand. The electricity from the biogas plant and the company's own wind turbine (built in 1993) is fed into the public grid. "The whole project took almost five years to plan and build," says Sandering. "I know many young farmers who are willing to invest. But you need long-term planning security." (LPD 77/2024)

Original article: https://landvolk.net/lpdartikel/dirk-sandering-macher-mit-mut-zum-risiko/