Full circle: The ten-year journey to solve one of the biggest challenges for pork industry

“It looks very simple but they’re the best inventions, aren’t they?” quips SunPork Group CEO and Managing Director Robert van Barneveld. 

His description of SunPork’s patented Maternity Ring sells short the achievement of cracking one of the toughest animal welfare challenges for the pork industry globally – eliminating the need to confine sows in farrowing crates. 

Farrowing crates are widely used in the industry to restrict a nursing sow from accidently crushing her piglets to death. But they limit movement and that’s a touchpoint for consumers concerned about animal welfare. 

Ten years ago, SunPork could see this vexed issue was impacting the industry’s social licence and set about designing an alternative. 

Meeting the needs of consumers, producers and most importantly the pigs

The result of that investment in R&D is the Maternity Ring, an oval-shaped suspended hoop which allows the sow to move more freely, nest and socialise while also protecting the piglets. 

“It looks very simple but the angle of the ring, the size of the pen and the height, are all critical to its success,” Robert said. “That’s why it’s taken nine iterations to get where we are now.” 

Testing designs in a real-world, commercial, Australian setting also led to new ideas like differential floor heating. 

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“If you have a nice area for the piglets to go that’s warm, while the floor where the sow lies is cooler, then they won’t stay around so there’s much less chance of them getting overlaid.” 

SunPork accounts for 20% of Australia’s pork production with 52,000 sows under management producing more than a million pigs per year – about 1,000 Maternity Rings are now in use. 

Dr Robert van Barneveld will be a speaker at evoke^AG. 2025.

What makes this innovation a world-first for the pork industry?

Robert said the concept of stopping sows from falling on their piglets has been around since the 1950’s – you might have even seen the piggy ring on the Clarkson’s Farm TV program. 

But he explained that the Maternity Ring is much more than that. 

“Allowing freedom of movement of the sow in a commercially viable footprint that demonstrably shows a welfare benefit of the sow consistent with the five domains, that has never been done before,” he said.  

“I’m not aware of any other farrowing system in the world that has ever shown a benefit for the sow relative to the five domains.” 

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The Five Domains of Animal Welfare is an internationally recognised standard for optimal animal health and welfare, with a strong focus on mental wellbeing and positive experiences. 

SunPork’s innovation has been backed by peer-reviewed scientific research published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, something Robert credits as crucial in gaining the support of animal welfare groups like the RSPCA. 

“It’s an important pillar in our business having robust research and development to back up our statements and actions,” he said.  

SunPork’s patented Maternity Ring eliminates the need to confine sows in farrowing crates.

The path to innovation begins by looking at the end goal

A ‘farrowing think-tank’ in 2015 focused the SunPork team on the characteristics needed in a solution. 

“We set out ten criteria including no bars, no confinement at any point during farrowing and lactation, protects the piglets, uses the same footprint, allows the sow to nest, allows her to socialise with other sows if that’s what she wants to do, safe for our employees, demonstrable improvement in sow welfare and similar installation cost” Robert said.  

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“That meant we were able to discount a lot of existing approaches. Having everyone focused on that common goal and not making any concession on the way through was the key element.” 

Innovation requires investment and commitment

“It requires an absolute commitment from the entire business, and it requires a common goal,” he said.   

“You’ve got to be committed to the process, understand it costs money, not be doing it for premium – it’s just simply a way of improving your operational base so you can meet consumer credence values.” 

SunPork is making the maternity rings and the husbandry knowledge they have developed available to the broader industry through a third-party manufacturer.  

“The fact that we have categorically demonstrated a welfare benefit for the animal, we have an obligation to make sure everybody has access to it. You can’t protect that and keep it to yourself if it means other animals could be living a better life,” Robert said.  

Adoption by other Australian pig farmers will take time though. 

“It’s cost effective, protects piglets, as well as the benefits it confers to the sow, so there’s no reason that producers won’t gravitate towards it,” Robert said. 

“They just have to be given time to digest it as an alternative, build up staff capacity, refurbish existing facilities and we have to recognise some people might have brand new farrowing facilities that still have a 25-year lifespan.” 

Price premium for higher welfare not the end goal for SunPork

A strategic partnership between SunPork and retailer Woolworths will see 100% crate-free pork on supermarket shelves in November 2024. 

“If I’m offered a premium by any customer I won’t knock it back,” Robert said. “Maybe that’s something that will come but it will always have a finite life – you just have to look at free range chicken and cage free eggs, there’s no premium despite a significant increase in cost of production.” 

He argues the real value will be in increasing pork’s market share. 

“Pork is too cheap, particularly if you compare it to other protein sources, and I think that’s partly due to a lack of consumer acceptance of pork production methods,” he said. 

“I would hope that if people are more comfortable with the way we’re producing pork, they’re going to be more willing to a buy more and potentially pay more.” 

Keen to continue this conversation? Hear from Robert van Barneveld, Bryan Van Wyk, Operations Manager at Austral Fisheries, and others (soon to be announced) at evoke^AG. 2025 in ‘Innovation uncut: Agritech wins, fails, and the lessons learned’ on Day 1 of the program.  

View the full two-day program, including speakers and partners making evoke^AG. 2025 possible.