Benchmark Magazine Article Archive

Improved understanding of the major management factors impacting finisher pig behavioral and physiological responses during handling and transportation has recently emerged as an area of concern in the swine industry.

Times are tough for U.S. pork producers: Feed prices are high and likely will stay at some new high level for the foreseeable future. Market hog prices are currently low with a record volume of pork on the market. Demand is good and packer slaughter capacity is not being challenged, which are both blessings. However, in spite of the positives in the market, essentially all producers are seeking ways to economize, cut costs, improve efficiencies and generally work to improve profitability. It was in this vein that the National Pork Board began accumulating a list of tips for addressing high feed costs and high production costs.

Professors, authors, consultants and astute professionals lecture that the success of a business is dependent upon the people who work there - a simple and believable statement. However, achieving this success is easier said than done.

As margins continue to squeeze pork producers, optimization holds the key to improving profitability. Optimization is the condition where the system is operated at its best. In many ways, the phase-segregated nature of swine production is designed for suboptimization, the opposite of optimization. We’ve established local targets and local rewards that pit one phase against another. For example, a sow unit might be recognized for the number of pigs it produces—but not the quality of those pigs. And many of the substandard pigs received at the nursery will be unable to meet the criteria required for them to move on to the finishing phase. As a result, the highly productive sow unit will cause the nursery to operate with higher mortality and poorer feed conversion.

One of the major determinants of the value of sow farm output is the level of production and the variation of that production. Underproduction results in downstream underutilization of growing pig capacity. It also results in more mixing of pigs as other sources of pigs are often used to fill in the gap created by a low-producing sow herd. Not only is there an on-farm component of underproduction, but there is also seasonal underproduction that results in higher prices available during the times when most sow farms underperform.

Respiratory Disease in the finishing stage of production is a challenge for both producers and swine veterinarians, and the complexity of managing these diseases has increased due to interaction of the agents in this stage of production. Common agents include: Swine influenza (SIV), Porcine respiratory reproductive syndrome (PRRS), Porcine Circo virus type 2 (PCV2), mycoplasma, Actinobacillus suis, Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia, Pasteurella Multocida, and other bacterial agents. Viral agents seem to be the biggest problems to control

With rising input costs and narrower profit/loss margins, it’s more important than ever to monitor feed usage. There is a system designed to do just that. The PigCHAMP Care Feed Allocation System (FAS) automates the time-consuming, sometimes complicated task of feed ordering. This webbased system allows producers to have the right feed delivered at the right time in an easy, efficient and verified manner.

The rapid increase in the cost of energy for transportation and the growth of the biofuels industry has lead to tremendous change in the cost of ingredients for swine diets. It appears we are leaving a time of consistency and relative predictability in ingredient prices to an era of price volatility and unknown. Planting acreage and yield have always impacted ingredient prices.

One of the greatest influences on weaning-to-estrus interval is the management of sows during lactation. During this time, the reproductive organs of sows have a chance to recover from their previous pregnancy. It is well established that levels of reproductive hormones in the brain that stimulate estrus and ovulation are very low immediately after farrowing. 

As we review various production indices, it has become evident that there are two main methods of summarizing such indices. The first is a classical method, of providing an average. The second is what we call a “proportion” or a “management by specification.” In the case of measuring the wean-to-service interval, PigCHAMP provides two alternatives.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) provides a gauge of livestock and crop intentions through its quarterly reports. Sometime those reports create angst and uncertainty among producers, as was the case with the March Hogs and Pigs report as well as the March planting intentions report. From a swine perspective, the biggest surprise was the prediction of larger than expected hog supplies through September 2008.

Due to historically high feed prices and relatively low prices for market hogs, U.S. profit margins will continue to shrink .U.S. commercial pork producers need to continue to focus on improving production efficiency and improving sow mortality. To comprehend the current sow mortality levels it is important to have a historical perspective and reference.

The summary data can be segmented in various ways, but a common comparison is between the United States and Canada. As in previous years, Canada has many areas of higher productivity. The reasons have been discussed, but the most probable reason is that the higher financial pressures have forced Canadian farms to be more efficient. Secondly, there is a larger proportion of herds that sell weaned pigs in Canada, with their income directly tied to sow productivity.

Benchmarking is a term and a methodology that has been abused, misused and yet, in spite of our faults, it has survived and provided useful guidance to the industry. The etymology of benchmarking is interesting: