Estonian Pork
Pigs have always been a part of Estonians' lives: they have run around the farms, slumbered in pigpens and pork has always been on our tables.
The quality mark Estonian Pork (Eesti Siga)
shows that the products of the Rakvere Meat Processing Plant have been prepared from good and high-quality meat of Estonian-raised pigs. Look for the mark!
Kihlepa farm, Pärnu County
Estonian pigs offer work and bread
The Estonian climate is suitable for raising pigs and they grow well, therefore pig-farming offers Estonians jobs and helps to sustain life in rural areas. In addition to pig-farmers, it also supplies, for example, Estonian grain farmers and fodder producers who produce most of the pigs’ food.

15 kg of pork consumed by an average Estonian comes from Rakvere Farms.

An average Estonian eats approximately 32 kg of pork in a year, half of which is the Rakvere Meat Processing Plant’s fresh meat and meat products.

40% of Estonian-raised pork grows up in Rakvere Farms.

There are about 625,000 pigs raised in Estonia every year, from which 250,000 are raised in Rakvere Farms. There are so many pigs raised in Estonia that it is more than enough for all Estonians. This is why some of the pigs and pork travel to other countries.

280 kg of mixed fodder is used to raise one pig in Rakvere Farms.

Altogether, Rakvere’s pigs eat about 85,000 tons of mixed fodder in a year, out of which 70,000 tons is local production from Estonian fields and is grown by Estonian farmers. 99% of mixed fodder is produced in Estonia. Also, over 60,000 tons of whey left over from the dairy industry is used to feed the pigs.

How do pigs grow?
Ekseko farm, Viljandimaa

Pigs also have their nurseries and kindergartens

During his half year of living, a pig lives in three different pigsties and eats six different types of fodder according to his level of growth. Pigs of different ages have their own feeding standards to ensure the required amount of energy, proteins, amino acids, vitamins and minerals to grow.
MONTH
1,5
KG
0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Suckling pig: 1.5–7 kg

A piglet weighs 1.5 kg at birth and lives 1 month with the sow. The first food immediately after birth is the valuable colostrum and after that sow milk becomes their main food. From day 7, suckling pigs are given special additional piglet fodder.
Kihlepa farm, Pärnu County
°C
Look at how warm the living
conditions of Rakvere's pigs are

he right temperature is very important when raising pigs: in a cool pigsty, a part of the energy from the fodder is used not to grow but to sustain the body's temperature. But in too warm an environment, the pigs lose their appetite and their gain decreases again. The highest temperature of about 35 °C is needed by the suckling pigs when they are born, weaners need 19–25 °C and pigs only 18 °C.

Whether the temperature is suitable for the pigs can also be determined by simply observing the pigs. When the pigs are lying next to each other, then the temperature is just right for them. In a cold pigsty, pigs climb on top of each other in order to keep warm. In too hot a pigsty, the pigs keep away from each other when lying or are even in the dung in order to get rid of the excess heat.

Pen plan

Unlike the common belief, pigs are very clean animals. They divide their living area into three by themselves, humans only help them by creating appropriate conditions.

Pigs' life in numbers

One boar gives about
1500
doses of semen per year.
One dose of semen contains
3
billion sperms in an 85 ml tube
To impregnate one sow,
6
billion sperms, which is 2 tubes, of semen is used.
A sow is impregnated for the first time at the age of
8-9
months.
About
20
ovules are fertilised at the same time
A sow's pregnancy lasts for almost
4
months (3 months, 3 weeks, 3 days)
One litter has on average
12
strong and healthy piglets
In total, a sow will give birth to
7
litters of piglets in its life
In a sow's life, this is 7 x 12 which is
84
piglets and who later become pigs
A sow will suckle the pigs approximately
20
times a day
In six months, the pig will weigh
112
kilograms (by the end of the pig period)
This is on average
600
grams of gain per day
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Ekseko farm, Viljandi County
How is life in Rakvere's pig farms?
Pig farming is strictly controlled

There are a number of Estonian and European Union norms and standards that regulate animal raising, in practice this simply means that pigs have to be offered good, clean and comfortable living conditions. This is what we do in Rakvere Farms.

As the first Estonian agricultural company we implemented the quality management system ISO 9001, which ensures that we are oriented to quality, all of our activities are documented and controllable, and European Union environmental management system ISO 14001, which reduces the environmental impacts of raising pigs and ensures pigs’ high-quality living conditions.

In addition, we have implemented occupational health and safety management system OHSAS 18001, which shows that we care for our employees, their health and we have created as safe a working environment as possible.

Rakvere Farms' good work is also recognised by the annual Veterinary and Food Board inspection, which has approved our pigsties' conditions.
Ekseko farm, Viljandi County
Our pigs
Our pigs are mixed from multiple breeds.

Yorkshire, Landrace and Duroc

make up Rakvere Farms' pigs. Cross-breeds have the best qualities of different breeds and are generally stronger than pure-bred pigs.

Yorkshire

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Yorkshire aka big white

  • pricked ears
  • strong build
  • thin layer of fat
  • well-developed maternal instincts
  • white hair
  • high fertility
  • good milk

Landrace

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Landrace aka bacon

  • floppy ears
  • long torso
  • particularly thin layer of fat
  • white hair
  • very high fertility
  • very good milk
  • very well-developed maternal instincts

Duroc

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Duroc

  • particularly strong build
  • brown hair
  • good resistance to diseases
  • tasty meat
  • especially big carbonados
  • streaky bacon
Lutsu farm, Põlva County
Rakvere Farms
Rakvere’s pigs are grown all over Estonia.
Rakvere Farms' pigs grow in 22 farms all over Estonia. There are two ways of raising pigs in Rakvere Farms: some of the pigs are grown up in Rakvere's own pig farms (45%), other piglets are given to other contractual pig farms (55%).