Hülsenberger Zuchtschweine: A Success Story

The birth of our company Hülsenberger Zuchtschweine dates back to 1966. The trend towards increasingly larger pig herds at that time brought with it a high pressure of infection associated with performance reductions and rearing losses. The difficulties confronting the industry led to the decision to establish a pig breeding programme on the Hülsenberg estate using fundamentally new biotechnological procedures.



The programme was designed to ensure genetic progress as well as the risk-free dissemination of the breeding products.

Biotechnological progress creates new standards
In the years that followed procedures such as Caesarean section for producing SPF piglets, artificial insemination and the development of the CK test were devised and perfected. Building on the SPF status, a breeding programme has been pursued since 1970 which is based on internal performance testing of gilts and young boars and the AI station.

Market-focused selection defines the product
The breeding strategy, initially devised solely as a pure-breeding programme for German Landrace pigs, turned into a crossbreeding programme in 1976. A variety of innovative genetic procedures during the following decades were fundamental to the success of one of Germany’s largest suppliers of breeding sows. The result is a Hülsenberg pig which combines optimal health status with a high level of predictable performance.

A partnership for the future
The claim to be able to meet the challenges of the future led to the enlargement of the company in 2004 by entering into a genetic collaboration with the French breeding company ADN, co-founder of the Hyperprolific Programme. ADN and Hülsenberg Breeding Pigs together sell some 120,000 gilts per year.