FAQ
Why is a Livar pig a monastery pig?
Free-range pigs have been kept at Lilbosch Abbey in Echt for more than a hundred years, cared for by the monks and according to their standards. In 2000, a year after Livar was created, the monks at the abbey joined Livar. In the Livar chain, the values and standards under which the pigs had been kept at the abbey for almost a hundred years continue.
What is the role of the monastery within Livar?
Lilbosch Abbey, and especially its Abbot, Dom Malachias, plays a very important role within Livar. The abbey is also co-owner of Livar. Within the board of Livar, the abbey watches over Livar's ethical and social integrity.
Which breed is a Livar pig?
The Livar pig is a special crossbreed, specially selected on the one hand to have robust animals that can handle a lot of space and outdoor exercise, and on the other hand for their flavour. Flavour is mainly created by marbling the meat with fat (intramuscular fat). The basis of Livar pigs are old pig breeds.
Why do Livar pigs have so many different colours?
Livar pigs have so many different colours because they are crosses of different breeds. These breeds each have their own specific characteristics and specific colour.
What is the difference between 1, 2 and 3 stars Beter Leven label from the animal welfare association?
The difference between the various stars of the Beter Leven quality mark is mainly in the area the animals have at their disposal and whether they have access to an exercise area. The entire Livar chain has been awarded the 3-star Beter Leven quality mark.
To see the exact requirements, it is best to check the website of the Animal Protection Society:
Is Livar meat organic?
How big is a Livar farm?
A Livar farm is small-scale. A Livar farm has a maximum of about 300 sows and about 1,500 fattening pigs. This is far below the average farm size we see in Dutch pig farming.
As all our farms therefore meet the same animal welfare and quality requirements, it does not matter which farm your Livar product comes from.
Does Livar also have mega farms?
Wageningen Environmental Research (Alterra) has drawn up standards to indicate when we can talk about mega-stalls. For pigs, we then talk about farms with more than ca. 7,500 fattening pigs or farms with more than ca. 1,200 sows (breeding pigs) (Source: Alterra and Milieudefensie). Livar farms only have a maximum of ca. 300 sows and/or ca. 1500 fattening pigs and therefore do not fall under mega-farms.
Does Livar also use air scrubbers on the barns?
No, Livar does not use air scrubbers on the houses. This is because the houses all have natural ventilation (open ridge, doors for outlet to the outside). An air washer would therefore not be able to do its job properly, as you would then get the principle of air conditioning with the windows open. In addition, using an air washer is an "end-of-pipe" solution. Thus, odour and ammonia are produced first, which then have to be purified again by an air washer.
Instead, Livar is committed to finding a solution that ensures that the development of odour and ammonia is prevented as much as possible. To this end, we are conducting research into the manure behaviour of pigs. If we make sure that manure and urine are separated as much as possible and disposed of separately at source, we can achieve a very strong reduction in the development of odour and ammonia.
What innovations is Livar doing?
Livar wants to stay at the forefront and therefore does a lot of research into improvements in animal health, animal welfare, environment and meat quality.
Sedum roof
At the monastery farm, Livar installed a special sedum roof on the pork shed and straw shed. This fits in with the landscape integration of the stables. It also ensures a well-insulated roof, extra biodiversity in the flora, but certainly also because it will attract all kinds of birds and insects.
Manure behaviour and emission reduction
To reduce odour and ammonia emissions, Livar, together with Wageningen University, conducted research into the pigs' fattening behaviour. By teaching the pigs to fatten in a specific place, we can have them relieve themselves in a controlled way (a pig toilet). By then also ensuring that manure and urine are immediately separated, odour and ammonia formation can be greatly reduced.
Manure and urine are separated directly at source. This is done, for example, by using a special manure belt that we have in use on the monastery farm. This manure belt is V-shaped and slopes slightly in one direction. In the gutter of the V, the urine is therefore drained to one side. The manure lying on the belt can be transported to the other side of the barn by means of a transport system. In this way, manure and urine are separated very quickly.
Besides the use of this manure belt at the Monastery Farm, barns at other locations are equipped with a daytime de-fertilisation system using manure scrapers. Frequent demanuring greatly reduces the risk of emissions, for example ammonia, but also odour. In addition, the separation of solid manure and urine is also very quick because urine is disposed of separately, which also contributes to lower emissions. We also use (grate) floors made of composite, a material that is very hygienic and reduces emissions.
Root
As we at Livar find it very important that the Livar pigs can perform their natural behaviour, we also think it is very important that they can root and play. Of course, all our pigs have access to straw, but we would also like to offer them something in which they can root a little deeper. In our outdoor runs, we are carrying out trials in which we want to combine letting the pigs root around with reducing emissions.
Individual animal recognition
To have even better data on the health, welfare, production and meat quality of our Livar pigs, we are also carrying out trials to give the animals an electronic ear tag that allows individual identification. With this data, we can then carry out various analyses.
Wild boar prevention
Especially at our Monastery Farm, many wild boars live in the vicinity. Wild boars can transmit all kinds of diseases to farmed pigs, such as African swine fever. To minimise the risk of wild boar coming into contact with our Livar pigs, we have installed a double fence (sufficiently high and 50 cm buried in the ground) around the pastures where the Livar pigs live. These two fences are widely spaced and in many places are also filled in by a thick hawthorn hedge. The access paths to the Monastery Farm remain inaccessible to wild boar, but still passable for agricultural machinery because we have installed wildlife grids and high automatic fences
Transparent chain
To further respond to transparency throughout the chain, Livar has set up an assurance of origin, monitored by an independent certifying body. Butchers selling Livar in terms of pork 100% can be certified as "Livar Selected Specialist with Curl". In this way, a consumer buying from these butchers can very easily verify that the pork they are buying comes from Livar.
Energy consumption
There are a large number of solar panels on the roofs at the monastery farm. The roofs of the farms in Meerlo and Echt (Sint Antoniushoeve) are also fully equipped with solar panels. Partly due to the fact that Livar pigs grow up in a very natural way and therefore require few energy-consuming installations, the production of Livar meat is virtually energy-neutral.
What happens to the manure produced by Livar pigs?
The manure produced by the Livar pigs can in turn be used to supply the arable land with nutrients so that cereals can be grown on it, which the pigs can then eat. So this is a local cycle.
Is Livar still looking for new farmers/farms?
Livar is always interested in new farmers or farms. Would you like to run a Livar farm? Then feel free to let us know at info@livar.nl.
Can I get a guided tour at Livar?
Individuals can via VVV Hart van Limburg book a guided tour. From the public road, however, you can also see the pigs walking outside.
Do you have a business and would like to visit us? Please contact us at info@livar.nl or by using the contact form on the website.
I would like to do an internship at Livar, is that possible?
What certificates does Livar have?
Livar is certified for:
3 stars Beter Leven label (BLk) = the highest attainable animal welfare designation from the Animal Welfare Authority (More information on the Animal Welfare website).
Recognised regional product (SPN) = indicates that the entire product and chain is regional (Limburg).
FSSC22000 = the quality system of our own meat and meat products workshop where all Livar pigs are boned, cut and/or processed into fine meat products and meat products. FSSC22000 is a quality system to ensure the food safety of our products.
What are Livar's plans for the future?
Meanings & pig language
- Sow:
- Bear:
- Gelt:
- Sucking piglet:
- Weaned piglet:
- Fattening pig:
- Throwing:
- Teats:
- Impose:
- Decks:
- Toom:
- KI:
- Organic:
- BLk:
- Earmark:
- Castrate:
- Rooting:
- Cutout:
- mother pig
- male pig
- young sow yet to have first piglets
- piglet still drinking from the meuder (sow)
- piglet no longer drinking from mother (sow)
- pig from age +/- 12 weeks to slaughter age
- Childbirth, the sow gives birth to her piglets
- piglets are not branded by the sow
- pigs are moved from piglet shed to fattening shed
- fertilisation of a sow
- piglets born at the same time from the same sow
- artificial insemination = way to cover a sow
- produced according to EU organic legislation and SKAL rules
- Beter Leven hallmark from the Dutch Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
- individual registration of an animal
- male piglets stripped of their testicles to avoid boar taint
- way pigs turn over the ground with their nose/scratch disc
- location where meat is processed into meat products and charcuterie
What is the life cycle of a Livar pig?
Figure 1: Newborn Livar piglets drinking milk from the sow.
Figure 3: Processing Livar meat into beautiful meat products in the cutting plant
Can Livar pigs play outside?
Can Livar pigs root?
Does a Livar pig get bored?
What does a Livar pig eat?
Why are some Livar pigs walking in the pasture?
Livar sows always have access to a pasture. Livar regularly carries out tests to see if the meat pigs can also walk in the pasture all year round (they do have a warm shelter available) and, in particular, how the pasture holds up throughout the seasons and years (pigs love to root around). This survey will be conducted at Livar's monastery farm. You can see the pigs walking in the pastures here from the public road.
How can you cross multiple breeds?
What is weaning and at what age does it happen at Livar?
Do Livar pigs have a curly tail?
Are Livar pigs castrated?
Castration of male pigs is done because, when they become sexually mature, males start to develop an unpleasant odour that can also be noticed when the meat is heated. This is called boar taint (see also "what about boar taint?").
The substances androstenone (male pheromone) and skatol create this pungent odour.
The male Livar pigs are castrated. We do this because we cannot guarantee the good quality of Livar meat if we were to slaughter intact boars. Because Livar pigs also get older, grow slower and live outside a lot, the risk of boar taint is also higher.
Castration is done under general anaesthesia and with pain relief afterwards (authorised method by the Animal Welfare Society).
On Livar farms where there are sows, there are often one or a few boars present to "please" the ladies. On our monastery farm, for example, we have one bear called Frenske. The unpleasant smell he gives off is not at all unpleasant for the sows.
Why do Livar pigs have an ear tag in?
How do Livar pigs stay healthy?
How is a Livar pig mated?
What is the difference between a sow farm and a fattening pig farm?
How old does a Livar pig get?
A Livar pig slaughtered to produce tasty Livar meat reaches an average age of 8-10 months. They then weigh about 140 kg. A sow can live up to 6 years.
How are Livar pigs housed?
Livar pigs always have the possibility to choose whether they want to be inside or outside. Outside, they have access to an exercise area, which in most cases consists of a largely closed floor with an adjacent slatted area through which manure can pass.
We also try to give the animals the opportunity to root, something a pig likes to do. We conduct studies to find the best opportunities for pigs to root. Inside, the animals stay in stalls divided into compartments. For instance, the sows and their piglets are in a spacious farrowing pen. Here, the sow can always roam freely and so is not confined between fences.
Weaned piglets remain in extra-large farrowing pens until they can move to the fattening pen. This type of housing is called a farrowing pen. The fattening pigs, with the same group they were with in the piglet department, enter a fattening pig pen.
The minimum dimensions for the pens are given below. These dimensions correspond to the requirements for the Beter Leven keurmerk 3 stars of the Dierenbescherming (animal welfare organisation). Livar also has additional requirements for animal housing. For example, at Livar only 25% of the run may be covered in order to ensure that the run is as natural as possible. We also find it very important that Livar pigs have clearly different habitats in their pens. For example, they have a nice lying nest littered with straw, a functional area where they can eat and drink, an area where they can fatten up and an area where they can play.
Carrying sows are in a large group together, have access to an outdoor area and a pasture and, of course, a nice thick litter. On all our breeding farms, pregnant sows receive their feed in a feeding station. Thanks to her ear tag, the sow is recognised by the feeding station and offered the right amount of feed depending on her gestation period.
Table: minimum dimensions per animal of pens (indoor and outdoor) for the various animal categories.
- Bears
- Carrying sows
- Maternity home
- Weaned piglet
- Fattening pig
- ≥ 6.0 m2
- ≥ 2.5 m2
- ≥ 7.5 m2
- ≥ 0.6 m2
- ≥ 1.3 m2
- ≥ 8.0 m2
- ≥ 1.9 m2
- ≥ 2.5 m2
- ≥ 0.4 m2
- ≥ 1.0 m2
- ≥ 14.0 m2
- ≥ 4.4 m2
- ≥ 10.0 m2
- ≥ 1.0 m2
- ≥ 2.3 m2
What exactly about bear scent?
Boar taint is an unpleasant odour that can be spread when meat from boars (male pigs) is heated. Many consumers are sensitive to this odour and prefer not to smell it when cooking a piece of pork. Boar taint develops due to 2 substances that the boar starts to produce as it becomes sexually mature.
These substances are skatol and androstenone. Because Livar pigs are getting older than in conventional pig farming and also show more of their primal behaviour because they have outdoor access, the risk of developing this boar taint is higher in Livar pigs. In addition, the meat quality of boar meat is lower. To prevent boar taint and ensure good meat quality, Livar therefore castrates male pigs.
Castration is done under general anaesthesia and with pain relief afterwards (authorised method by the Animal Welfare Society).
Can I also buy a live Livar pig?
No, it is unfortunately not possible to buy a Livar pig.
How are Livar pigs transported?
How are Livar pigs slaughtered?
All Livar pigs are slaughtered in a small-scale slaughterhouse where professionals ensure the proper slaughter of our animals. This slaughterhouse is a short drive from our farms.
The entire Livar chain is certified with the Beter Leven Keurmerk 3 stars from the Dutch Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. This means that the slaughterhouse must also meet these requirements. So, in addition to the strict Dutch legal requirements, the slaughterhouse where Livar pigs are slaughtered also meets the additional requirements set by the Beter Leven Keurmerk. This means, among other things, that an animal welfare officer, who is specially trained to supervise the animal welfare of the animals to be slaughtered during the slaughter process, is always present at the slaughterhouse. Furthermore, all employees who handle the animals have received animal welfare training. And, of course, the pigs are inspected by a veterinarian.
Because the entire chain is certified with the Beter Leven Keurmerk 3 stars, this automatically means that the additional requirements are monitored by an independent organisation through announced and unannounced inspections.
By cooperating with both slaughterhouses and animal welfare organisations in this way, we ensure as much as possible that the animals are slaughtered with dignity. So without stress and pain - that is what is important to us!
Does Livar also slaughter suckling pigs?
Where is Livar meat available?
Livar meat is available throughout the Netherlands. Curious where? Check our availability page for all points of sale.
Can I become a Livar outlet?
Livar is always looking for new ambassadors who want to put Livar on their menus or sell it in their butcher's shops with great enthusiasm. Please feel free to contact us to discuss this: info@livar.nl.
Why is Livar meat so special?
Livar is a regional regional pork product. The pigs live stress-free, as they can roam freely in nature and root around in the mud outside every day. They can enjoy balanced regional grains, so they lack nothing in nutrition. Because the meat is infused with fat, you have an ideal flavour carrier for the meat and you can taste that!
What is marbling of meat?
What is the best way to prepare my piece of Livar meat?
Is Livar meat free of antibiotics?
Livar meat is free of antibiotics.
At Livar we make sure that Livar pigs have a good resistance. We do this because Livar pigs are of a robust breed, they build up resistance because they can always be indoors or outdoors and we make sure their resistance is optimal by vaccinating them against common pig diseases.
However, an animal, just like a human, can sometimes get sick. Of course, we don't want to deprive the Livar pig of proper treatment then. If it is a bacterial infection, in which case antibiotics can offer a cure, Livar pigs are treated with antibiotics. Livar also applies an extra wide margin on top of the legally required withdrawal period (time it takes for an antibiotic to leave the body), so that there is never any residue of antibiotics in the meat.
Is Livar meat healthier?
How does Livar guarantee the origin of the meat?
Livar pigs are only raised on our Livar farms. The Livar chain is a short chain where everyone knows each other well. Our Livar pig farms are certified with the Beter Leven 3 stars quality mark of the Dierenbescherming (Animal Protection Society). Our products are also certified with the 3-star Beter Leven quality mark. In order to guarantee this, we are audited at least once a year by an independent certifying body. During the audit, we must demonstrate that all the meat we process actually comes from our certified Livar pigs. We do not process any other products. We can therefore 100% guarantee that Livar is indeed Livar and meets our high quality and animal welfare standards. To respond even better to transparency throughout the chain, Livar has set up a guarantee of origin, monitored by an independent certifying body. Butchers selling Livar in terms of pork 100% can be certified as "Livar Selected Specialist with Curl". In this way, a consumer buying from these butchers can very easily verify that the pork they are buying comes from Livar.
Can I choose which farm my Livar meat comes from?
It is not possible to choose which farmer the meat comes from.
All our farmers work according to the criteria of Beter Leven 3 stars from the Dutch Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. The same standards regarding quality also apply to all our farmers.
As all our farms therefore meet the same animal welfare and quality requirements, it does not matter which farm your Livar product comes from.
