Simon Grey, international consultant on management of pig farms, director of Checkfarm Consulting Ltd

Farm efficiency can’t be a matter in question if the owner does not understand their business. Why do we produce pigs? To make profit, there are no other reasons! And what is profit? This is sales minus production costs. What is really important for pig production business — number of kilograms a farm sells. Everything is very simple! You don’t need to be lost in in masses of meaningless numbers and complicate a very simple process. How to achieve this target? There is an infinite number of ways. Let’s concentrate on the control points of the farm efficiency.

Strange as it may appear, pig production is an exact science. And you are a successful pork producer if you understand the maths. There are thousands of mathematical combinations of number bred, farrowing rate, born alive, mortality and growth rates that can achieve a pre-set target of kg sold and are the basis for evaluating farm efficiency. However, indeed they are secondary and only affect the cost. The basic formula is:

where kg — the total number of kilograms sold from the farm, m² — total area inside pens in Nursery and Finisher. Can you count your farm’s output per year?

Factors that affect kg/m²:

• Number of pigs weaned;
• Mortality;
• Growth rate;
• Sales Weight.

All these factors can be narrowed to the one — number of pigs to sell (number weaned minus mortality). So we have 3 control points: pigs transferred to Nursery / Finisher, mortality and % occupancy (number of pigs Vs pig places).

Chain reaction: number of pigs transferred to Nursery / Finisher

This factor is complex and includes a number of other. First of all, the number of pigs weaned per crate (NOT PER SOW!). Bear in mind that figures without all of the facts can be misleading.

How do we get piglets? Only 4 factors are important — this are 100% of the effect (there are no other factors), which are divided into:

• Total bred — 70%;
• Farrowing rate — 20 %;
• Born alive — 5%;
• Piglet mortality — 5%.

This is simply understood by answering the question if you breed nothing what do you get — nothing!! The number of sows bred has the biggest percentage effect on the number of pigs sold.

So target № 1, which should be monitored properly, is number of inseminated sows. To achieve it a pig producer should provide 3 more points (these are also control points):

• sow herd size (not enough sows = will not be able to achieve breed target);
• gilt herd size (not enough gilts = herd size will reduce, so there won’t be animals to inseminate). Todays gilts are the breeding herd for the next 2,5 years. Efficient gilt management today affects herd performance for this period of time.

Remember that average replacement rate is 50%, but not more than 56%.

• % first serves of total (at least 85%, ideal 90%). Bear in mind that normally 5% losses from conception rate (1^st pregnancy check) and farrowing. First sign of problem is if the gilts return 3 weeks post-insemination and low breeding rate. If returns (7 day total) go over target — increase breeding target immediately to adjust it for conception rate.

1) What factors are most common to falsify?

2) How to calculate % occupancy?

3) What can measuring of feed intake say about?

4) What are the rules of the efficient control of the farm?

You can find answers for these and other questions in the full version of the interview in the magazine «Profitable Pig Production», № 3 (15) 2013.