Facing and Cuddling with Pigs. - Our Passion for "Yume no Daichi" Brand Pork

The “Yume no Daichi” brand of pork is ‘Yongenton’ pigs, a crossbreed of four different breeds.
In fact, it is cheaper to produce ‘Sangenton’ pigs without Berkshires because less feed is required. However, we raise ‘Yongenton’ pigs with ‘Berkshires’ for better meat quality.

The characteristics of Yongenton “Yume no Daichi” pigs are that the meat has no odor and has a good fat content that can be crisply shredded when chewed, and “Berkshire” is indispensable for producing this quality.
The farm’s role is to raise and fatten “Yume no Daichi” pigs in order to develop these characteristics and raise healthy pigs.

“First of all, it is important that the parent pigs are healthy and strong. If we can create the right conditions for the parent pigs, healthy piglets will be born, even if they don’t need a lot of work. Ideally, the ideal is that this time, when you realize that it wasn’t hard at all, it went easily,” he said.
For that reason, it is necessary to control the amount of feed according to the stage of pregnancy while grasping the condition of each parent pig.
If the pigs are too thin, we feed them a little more to build up their strength, and if they are too fat, we reduce the amount.

He also says that judging the amount of food to feed the piglets after birth is the most difficult part of the process.
He says that the amount of feed is increased when the piglets are drinking milk, but if the amount is increased too soon after the piglets are born, the milk may not come out well or may become clogged. In addition, first-born pigs may not be able to eat after giving birth, he said.
“Now all the staff are watching the pigs very carefully and doing a good job,” he says.

About 10 pigs are born at one birth, and each has its own unique constitution and character.
However, as a large farm, it is difficult to monitor everything 24 hours a day.
“First of all, we make effective use of a monitoring system that allows us to check on them remotely,” says Farm Manager Kogota.

The Chitose farm monitors temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide, and other parameters, as well as video. What can be seen numerically is shared among the staff as a numerical value, so that they can always keep track of the status of the farm.
In addition, it is the human eye that does the final check, and it is the human hand that helps the pigs.

The size of a farm in pig farming is expressed in terms of the number of sows. Chitose Farm has about 2,300 head of pigs. Chitose Farm is one of the largest pig farms in Japan, with approximately 13,000 piglets, including those being suckled. The daily efforts of 22 staff members, including Mr. Kogota, the farm manager, are indispensable to operate such a large-scale farm.
Of the staff working at Chitose Farm, nearly half are young women, many of whom have no experience in pig farming.

Farm Manager Kogota says, “Because of their inexperience, they work diligently and stick to the basics, and the results are better than we expected. When the scale of the farm is this large, it is not something that can be managed by individual skills. It is important for everyone to follow the basics.

Each staff member has a specific pig that he or she is in charge of, and they all share the responsibility of raising the pigs.
They check the amount of food they eat, the amount of water they drink, the state of their defecation, and whether they are healthy and active, etc. They confirm what they need and what they lack by actually seeing them.
By using a monitoring system and human eyes, technology is used for overall management, and human eyes are used for detailed checks, to provide a comfortable environment for the pigs and realize “health = safety = good taste.

「He also spoke of his commitment to “sticking to the basics and working with an image of how our various daily tasks will lead to future results.
It can be said that Farm Manager Koujita’s beliefs and kindness in nurturing people have made Chitose Farm what it is today.