To help producers better manage pig flow and asset utilization, Value-Added Science & Technologies has launched ePigflow, an online market for weaner pigs, feeder pigs and facility spaces.
ePigflow is designed to will connect all participants in the swine industry to make it simple, transparent and secure to buy and sell weaner or feeder pigs and rent facilities.
“Our traditional approach to buying and selling pigs and identifying facilities is inefficient, out-dated and difficult for producers to navigate. Producers have a limited number of contacts, and so do brokers, and too often there is a lack of transparency that makes it difficult for producers to make informed decisions or fully realize what is available,” says Steve Weiss, president of VAST. “It’s common for producers to contact me for help in buying or selling pigs or locating space and I wanted to create a system that would make it easy for them and protect their interests in a more transparent marketplace.
ePigflow provides four services to help producers manage their pig flow and maximize asset utilization:
1. Spot Market Sales. This allow producers to post and buy weaner and feeder pigs through the ePigflow market, including facilitating all necessary aspects of the buying and selling process.
2. Long-Term Contract Listings. Producers now can post groups of pigs they’d like to sell under a long-term arrangement. ePigflow allows users to post important information like genetics, health status, preferred pricing mechanisms and other terms. Interested parties can contact the sellers directly to get more information and work on a potential agreement.
3. Facility Space Listings. This feature allows users to post available facilities for rent. Users post detailed information about the facility and interested parties can contact them directly for more information and to potentially rent the facilities.
4. Payment Assurance Service. The service facilitates sales between parties by handling the sales transaction, collections and managing the discount sheet settlement process in a streamlined and secure manner.
A feature of all services is an email notification service that notifies interested users of new listings once per day and notifies buyers of competing offers when they are actively pursuing a transaction. The transparency of the site also displays offers that are being made so users can get a feel for market prices.
The service charges transaction fees to the seller, but only when there is a successful sale; buyers pay no fees. There also is support staff available to communicate and work with pig producers.
You can sign-up for a free ePigflow account for access to all the listings, price activity and the ability to post new listings.
