Farmer Focus: Litter size below average, but with very low mortality
© MAG/Colin Miller It has been a busy month on the farm, including some new additions.
We are delighted to welcome Andie to the pigs team. He will be responsible for looking after the rearing and feeding the herd.
And thanks for his contributions to Jack who recently left us after about 18 months to go back into the poultry industry. We wish him well in his new role .
See also: How to avoid piglet losses in large litters
About the author
Andie joins us having built up 15 years of experience with pigs before taking a break from the industry. But he wanted to get back in, and we are really pleased to have him. He’s made a fantastic start.
In the office, we have Ami-Jade to keep me and the office organised.
She brings key people, prioritisation and efficiency skills to the team and has made a great start, with my diary having never looked so organised.
We have just had our quarterly breeding herd review, and it was really useful for AgroVision to also send a new report done by herd size; we can compare more like-for-like with ease.
It’s great to see we are in the top 25% for pigs weaned (14.12 a litter and 32.83 a sow a year) and litters a sow a year (2.32) alongside an exceptionally low pre-weaning mortality (4.12%).
Full credit to the team for these results over the past 12 months.
Our numbers born a litter (14.71) certainly haven’t pushed on as much as others within the group (14.84 average across the 46 similar-size herds).
But the low mortality means we are still ahead of some others in terms of numbers weaned, who are averaging far higher liveborn a litter (16.5+).
A review of genetics is under way to see if we can push the liveborn numbers up.
However, we will not be prepared to do so if we compromise our excellent pre-weaning mortality.
Finally, it was great to attend and be on one of the many panels at the Pigs Tomorrow conference.
About 250 people attended, with lots of positivity in the room and a far greater age range than previously.
Thanks to all those who organised the event.
It was really useful to get some updates from AHDB, Defra and Red Tractor, as well as hear discussions on sustainability and a likely transition away from conventional farrowing places.