The Institute for Agri-Food Research and Technology (IRTA), with the support of the Portuguese Federation of Pig Breeders' Association (FPAS), has presented and launched the BDporc concept to the main Portuguese pig farmers. The Portuguese version would follow a similar model to that of BDporc Spain, the Spanish Reference Swine Database.
The FPAS will collect the data from Portuguese pig operations, irrespectively of the swine software used, and will regularly send the data to BDporc.
The director of BDporc, Pedro López, explained the idea of creating “BDporc Portugal” to over 50 Portuguese swine companies. The proposal was well received and the companies showed interest and predisposition to implement it during 2015, considering this project as a very important management tool for helping in decision-making and for the efficiency of the Portuguese swine sector.
For the past 21 years, IRTA has been responsible for BDporc Spain. This system has allowed monitoring and controlling the technical results in the exploitations. BDporc has allowed swine companies to know and assess the situation regarding their exploitations in comparison with the reference standards of the sector, receive quarterly reports, and have access to e-BDporc, an online tool that offers the user immediate, safe, and continuous access to all the generated information, as well as to a series of advanced tools for automatic analyses of data and systematic comparison with established reference groups, and help in decision-making.
