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COREN reduces mortality to 1% and eliminates antibiotics thanks to partnership with The Schippers Group
Hapert, June 6, 2025 – The Spanish cooperative COREN and The Schippers Group are achieving positive results in pig farming. Thanks to a four-year partnership and the implementation of HyCare, piglet mortality during rearing has been reduced to just 1%. Additionally, antibiotic use has been completely eliminated, without compromising animal health.
HyCare provides control over animal health
COREN is Spain’s largest meat cooperative, active in producing pork, poultry, and beef. Together with The Schippers Group, COREN implemented HyCare on its pig farms. This approach focuses on total hygiene control, including barn cleaning, drinking water quality, gut health, and working routines.
The result? Healthier animals, lower cost per piglet, and higher yields. Since the start of the collaboration, over 10,000 additional piglets have been successfully weaned.
The program goes beyond hygiene alone and aims for full biosecurity integration.
In practice, this results in:
- Structural application of cleaning & disinfection (C&D), using products such as MS TopFoam Power and MS MegaDes Novo.
- Microbiological surface monitoring, targeting pathogens such as E. coli, Salmonella, and Streptococcus suis.
- Targeting high-risk areas like transport trucks, including separate cleaning protocols for the interior and exterior.
The collaboration not only resulted in healthier animals but also in improved technical performance:
Between 2022 and 2024, piglet performance at COREN significantly improved. In 2022, an average of 11.68 piglets were weaned per litter, with a weaning weight of 5.48 kg. By 2023, this had increased to 12.86 piglets per litter at 5.94 kg. In 2024, the progress continued, reaching 13.10 weaned piglets per litter with an average weight of 6.13 kg.
Additionally, in a field trial using MS TerraFeed Fe (a feed supplement complementing solid feed), the average weaning weight increased by 1.13 kg compared to the control group.
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Step-by-step success
The foundation of this success lies in the structured collaboration between COREN’s technical team and the Biosecurity Swine Manager from The Schippers Group. Through intensive guidance, training, and daily on-site optimizations, bottlenecks were identified and improvements implemented.
Examples include fixed walking routes, consistent cleaning and disinfection, and continuous water quality monitoring. Stricter biosecurity measures were also introduced, such as all-in-all-out systems, fixed animal groups, and sanitary downtime.
Resilient against PRRS variant ‘Rosalía’
The Spanish pig sector is heavily affected by the PRRS virus. Thanks to the consistent implementation of HyCare, the Ourense region – home to COREN’s main sow farms – has remained unaffected by the new, aggressive PRRS variant known as ‘Rosalía’.
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Next step: further optimization
Although the results achieved so far are promising, COREN is far from finished. They are currently working on further strengthening the cleaning and disinfection processes, with additional focus on external, internal, and containment biosecurity measures. This approach is being rolled out across multiple farms as a standardized foundation and adapted where necessary to meet farm-specific needs. The goal: even better animal health, reduced disease spread, and more consistent technical performance.