By Susan Olson
Knowledge Center Manager
PigCHAMP

As a whole, PigCHAMP continues to see opportunities, particularly for those farms in the lower percentiles of specific productivity measures. 2012 has brought another year of improved productivity and a continued wide range of performance across farms.

The use of these benchmarking reports provides the opportunity for a retrospective review of industry performance and helps identify trends that deviate from expected productivity. The use of benchmarking on your farm can produce real opportunities for improvement.

This data is comprised of information collected in the PigCHAMP Reproductive software program and summarizes the results to allow benchmarking and characterization of the industry as a whole. Our endeavor is to allow producers to identify methods for potential improvement and to allow allied industries to identify opportunities as well.

When you look at the 2012 summary charts for the USA and Canada, keep in mind the “Upper 10 percentile” which means the upper range for the production variable, not the upper percentile of farms. In other words, for variables such as Repeat Services (%), Stillbirths (%), Annualized Culling Rate (%) and Annualized Mortality Rate (%), the lower the number the more favorable it is.

For variables such as Pigs/mated female/year, Farrowing Rate (%), Born alive/litter, etc. the higher the number, the better.

Of course, benchmarking productivity is not the only area for improvement. It is part of a set of tools and opportunities for progress within this industry. Benchmarking is an efficient method of analysis and can allow producers to prioritize and identify new opportunities for improvement.

Please keep in mind, the PigCHAMP Benchmarking program is open to all pork producers who share their production information. Participants receive FREE quarterly updates on how their operations compare to the averages of Benchmark participants. There are a number of past editions of Benchmark magazine complete with articles and annual summary data available online at http://Benchmark.Farms.com

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