t he Wor ld’s Big g e s t Protein Pro d ucer

Dry,

Arecent trip to Mexico with the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists had an interesting and diverse itinerary – from typically Mexican agave growing and Tequila production to the more universal dairying, berry growing and avocado farming

For me a visit to the family owned PROAN near San Juan de Los Lagos in the state of Jalisco was the absolute highlight and some! Taking their name from the words Protein and Animal this father and four sons large scale family farming business is apparently the biggest protein producing operation in the world.

With a tag-line “Let’s feed the world together,” on their website the Romo family milk 12 000 Holstein dairy cows, rear 1 6M Duroc pigs, run 36M Bovans laying hens and have several other complimentary enterprises too boot, so are giving a good crack at the whip at feeding the world!

Established in 1950 as a family owned and operated property of 500 laying hens, today Proan is the largest livestock facility in Latin America Still owned by the Romo family and operated under the philosophy “what is good can always be better,” Proan is now headed by one of the sons, CEO, Manuel Romo

Dairy

The state of the art fully air conditioned shed, (pictured above), which houses 5500 dairy cows, is the first of its kind in Mexico.

“Pure air comes in and we find that year round the cows are in better health and are producing more milk, averaging 39 litres/cow at 4% fat and 3 45 protein,” commented dairy manager Anders Conales (above)

“The 12 000 dairy cows are milked on two 80-bail rotary parlours with two 11 hour milkings on each over the 24 hours,” he added “We guarantee the extraction and purity of the milk, which never comes into contact with the outside ”

With around 440 000 l of fresh milk leaving the premises a day, Coca Cola is the largest client, while a small percentage of the milk is used by sister company Bolonia to make ice cream (photo p10)

As the cattle are housed 24/7, year round they have the equivalent of daylight for 16 hours at 150 lux and 10% intensity at night.

The cattle are fed a corn alfalfa, soya based ration twice a day.

The shed is cleaned while the cows are being milked, using a no water system The manure is split with the dried manure composted and recycled as bedding

Farm Facts

Farmer:

Farming: PROAN

Location: Jalisco, Mexico

Area: approx 2000 acres

Cattle: 12 000 dairy cows bull beef also bull fighting bulls

Pigs: 1 600 000 Duroc Pigs 4500 slaughtered every day using own facilities

Poultry: 36M laying hens, the second largest egg producer in the world also sell chicken

Sheep: 80 000 Pelle ewes

Employees: 7000 full time 700 others

Other: Own packaging company Bakery Dog Food manufacturer Ice Cream maker 7000full time employees and 700 others

Pigs

Pigs were introduced in 1970 with the first full-cycle pig farm in Mexico and pork production now accounts for 20% of the business at Proan.

Sixteen per cent of the pig meat is exported to the USA, Canada, Japan (8%), Korea and Hong Kong

The 1 6 Million pigs are reared in a multi-site system for “sanitary reasons and safety from diseases ”

“We offer a product unmatched in quality and that is 100% traceable, starting from the pig genetics, up to the precise completion of each growth stage and until the product reaches our customers and consumers, ” commented Tomas, who heads up the pig, animal health and horticulture divisions

The first unit houses the productive females, who are artificially inseminated

At 25 days old the piglets are moved to the second unit. By 70 days and at an average weight of 73kgs they are shifted to the third site – the fattening unit.

The pigs are ready for slaughter around the 160-day mark, weighing between 125 and 135kgs

A tour round the enclosed walkway above one of their pig slaughtering premises was an eye-opener We viewed the whole process from start to finish A staggering 4500 pigs that are produced in-house are slaughtered every day The whole procedure was as stress free as possible for the pigs, entering a CO2 chamber. The carcases are chilled overnight. A third are sold whole and the rest are cut the following day, with the ones heading for the USA cut in six pieces

Every last part of the carcase is used with any waste bound for the biodigesters, which produce electricity for the plants The business is entirely self-sufficient in electricity and any extra is sent to the National Grid

Proan was the first to export the pancreas to Germany for pharmaceutical work The rectum heads to Korea, the stomach and intestine to the USA, while the entrails are salted and sold on the domestic market The hair and the flour of the blood are used as fertiliser and the bones are crushed for use in Proan’s dog food manufacturing operation – Maka.

“Demand is increasing so we are installing new lines,” added Tomas.

Egg Production

With 36 million layers, Mexico’s Proteina Animal (PROAN) ranks as the world’s second largest egg producer when measured by flock size. Only the United States company Cal-Maine Foods, based in Mississippi produce more – 44 3M

Egg production is the backbone of this Mexican farming business with the bulk selling into the North American market, as table eggs, egg whites, liquid egg and egg albumen

Using Bovans layers, the company ’ s egg producing flock has expanded by 20% since 2016 For the past five years they have been producing 600 000 day-old layer pullets a week in their new hatchery installed in 2017

The Bovan Brown is a highly versatile and robust laying hen. Combined traits include high peak production, great laying persistency and a flat egg weight curve, resulting in top quality dark brown eggs

The Bovans Brown laying hens have excellent feed intake capacity and robustness so that it fully expresses genetic potential in multi-age and free-range environments

The hens are reared in 8-level battery cages, pictured right, which were designed in-house

Mexico incidentally has the highest per capita egg consumption in the world – apparently 409 eggs per person in 2021! They are followed by Japan and Columbia

Worlds Top Ten Egg Producers

Poultry Production

Chickens are also reared for human and animal consumption at PROAN and the layers go for dog food when their productive life is over

Feed

Eighteen silos, which can store a total of 250 000 tonnes of grain and raw materials, are used to feed the dairy herd, layers and pigs Sixty-six per cent of the feed is for the poultry and 32% the pigs In 1990 the family started constructing an underground railroad from the port of Santa Maria for the reception of grains and inputs All the yellow corn is imported from the USA

Flour for the in-house bakeries is also milled on site

Circular Farming

“At PROAN we are committed to reducing the impact of our industrial processes, as well as optimizing our forms of production to guarantee a more sustainable use of our resources: water, electricity, raw materials and the transformation of organic waste

“We are proudly aligned with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations (UN) ”

The farming operations belong to the National Environmental Audit Program, a plan that contributes to the improvement of production processes to obtain green, sustainable economic growth and in accordance with the national climate change strategy

“We strive to ensure that our waste water is recycled and used for irrigation, avoiding the eutrophication of surface water beds, in addition, solid waste is used in our compost for the fertilization of agricultural fields, which allows us to comply with biological cycles, positively impacting the ecology of our region and avoiding the use of non-renewable fertilizers.

“We have a strong commitment to the environment, that’s why we make our processes self-sustainable, we supply our facilities with electricity with the biogas generated with the waste of our pigs And the company's sports and recreational fields have solar cells through, which we transform solar energy into electrical energy ”

The company also recycles more than 3000 tonnes of newspaper and cardboard a month, producing their own packaging

Employees

PROAN has 7000 full time employees and 700 seasonal workers and plays a huge role in the local employment rate.

“We promote human development as one of the pillars of our business strengthening. Our best capital is the people who work in the company, our collaborators, who with their loyalty, commitment and daily work make us grow ”

They offer all employees the opportunity to attend talks, workshops, conferences with management, health, environmental and motivational themes

Employees’ families also benefit from school scholarships, education, health sports and the arts

Twice a year PROAN hosts an event hosting 200-500 Mexican farmers and agri-industry representatives They share and spread information so that the local agricultural industry can grow

For me the trip to Mexico was an amazing experience and I found the visit to PROAN inspiring. It was wonderful to see what one family had achieved in the past seven decades and how they share their success and knowledge with their employees and wider community