The current census in Denmark is 5.8 million people, while pig production in the country reached 13.15 million pigs last year (2021), which means that the Scandinavian country produced annually more than two pigs per habitant.

Denmark has undergone a great evolution in the last 30 years, in terms of pig production and has become the European and even world reference, in terms of production efficiency.

There has been a marked reduction in the number of farms, from 27. 300 pig farms in 1990, to 2,576 farms in 2021, implying a reduction of more than 90% in the number of farms. This trend continues now a days, as between 2020 and 2021, 345 pig farms disappeared.

Of the 2. 576 farms that currently exist, 41.2% are closed cycle farms, 40.5% are fattening farms, 12.7% are breeding farms and 5.4% are piglet rearing farms.

Despite this reduction in the number of farms, pig production has increased progressively, thanks to the creation of farms with a higher technification degree and greater productive capacity.  Currently 90% of the farms have more than 2,000 animals.  The Danish production system is based on two large cooperatives that slaughter around 90% of the animals produced, Tican and Danish Crown.

It is also noteworthy that Denmark is the 4th exporting country worldwide of pork, since 90% of its production is exported, both to countries within the European Union (EU), and to third countries such as China.

The key to the Danish pig sector, which makes it a benchmark in the sector at European level, is its productive efficiency, known as “Know-how”, together with high levels of animal welfare and environmental impact management.

Danish cooperatives have invested a lot of efforts in achieving genetic lines and management practices that have allowed them to improve productivity, especially in terms of the number of piglets weaned per sow per year. Currently the average number of piglets weaned per sow per year in Danish farms is around 30.5 piglets, even reaching 40 piglets in some specific cases and being well above the average of other European countries such as Spain with 26.93 piglets or the United States with 26.08 piglets weaned per sow and year.

The main genetic lines used in Denmark are Landrace and Yorkshire, for the mother lines, due to their good maternal behavior and Duroc for the father lines due to their good performance in meat production and feed efficiency (image 1).

The productive efficiency of the genetic lines they have developed, together with excellent management practices, allows Danish farms to establish very competitive prices internationally, even though their production costs (wages, cost of infrastructure, electricity …) are higher than other European countries.