INNOVATION

At Taaibosch, we believe in making the most of what we have, we are passionate about sustainability and lessening our environmental impact. As such, we recycle a host of materials, which is done by a local entrepreneur who collects, sorts and manages the items as stipulated by regulations.

 

We have a manure separating and composting facility where effluent is utilised as a valuable resource. We compost the solid fraction of the separation process and this is made available for reselling, and re-use in our own vegetable production project. In addition, we have established a secondary composting facility for all plant and piggery waste not managed in the effluent system. The highly fertile liquid fraction from our separation process is utilised as organic fertilizer on the pasture fields to produce hay, which returns to the sow group houses as complementary feed or fibre after mating, or as enrichment and nesting material. With the intensive and precise nature of the hay production, we continuously fertilize and balance the soil conditions, which has increased yield over the past few seasons. We sell the surplus to neighbouring farmers, feedlots and horse owners, but we also donate hay to farmers in need of animal feed.

 

We are continuously testing and trying various types of enrichment for our animals, with a special focus on weaners and sows in groups. We use a combination of home-made toys like chains, chewable wooden blocks, rubber pipes with chains and even sports balls. We combine this with industry-leading, well-researched and developed enrichment tools like Easyfix and Porky Play.

 

As part of our reduced waste programme, mortalities are autopsied and cleaned before being frozen on-site in a bio-security facility. These are donated as feed to the Bernato Lion Programme and Predator’s Rock Rehabilitation Centre. Medication and feed additives have been specifically selected and screened to be safe for predators, vultures and other birds of prey.