Benchmark Magazine Article Archive

Opportunity costs can be defined as the opportunities forgone in the choice of one expenditure over others. We have the opportunity to work with farms ranging from 80 sows to 7,000 sows at our veterinary practice in Manitoba, Canada. No matter the farm size, shape or product, hog farms in 2013 cannot afford to leave dollars on the table at the end of the day.

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.

Benchmarking is an extremely useful and important tool to measure a producer’s competitiveness in today’s pork industry. There remains significant variation in production and economic parameters between producers. Accurate benchmarking helps producers verify competitiveness and/or prioritize efforts to become more competitive.

Over the past 3 years, PigCHAMP has been actively involved in several government-funded projects in Canada to help provide efficient, low cost solutions for producers to help comply with animal traceability regulations. The following article, prepared with the cooperation of The Alberta Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, provides the results of one of these projects. It shows that traceability compliance does not have to be costly and time consuming, and that with the right technology, you can actually provide better efficiency and time savings throughout a farm’s operation.

The swine industry is plagued with a negative stereotype that job opportunities are unrewarding and labor intensive. However, as industry professionals we know that this is untrue and that careers in the industry can be gratifying and encompass much more than most think.

At AgStar, we are very fortunate to work with some of the best producers in the United States. We are often asked about our perspective on the industry. I’d first like to share the current “profile” of a successful producer and then I’ll focus on the future, from an overview of the US pork industry.

Many different recommendations are found in swine literature and in the field regarding the “ideal” stage of first breeding. It is not clear whether this comes from different characteristics of the genetic lines or from the fact that age, body weight and degree of fatness (measured by the back fat thickness) are interrelated.

Swine Management Services, LLC (SMS) is owned by Ron Ketchem and Mark Rix. The company is involved in production analysis, financial analysis, employee training, farm consulting, bookkeeping and has a data entry bureau using PigCHAMP. They currently work with producers, primarily in the USA and Canada. Their mission statement is to provide “information solutions” for the swine industry.

It’s a perfect time to reflect on the business side of things and plans to make an operation even more competitive. From a production standpoint, what is it going to take to be competitive in 2013 and beyond? What type of improvement did we make in 2012? How do we know if we’re moving forward or backward in the different segments of production? What method is used to get the information to employees, owners and decision-makers?