FARMER FOCUS: Opportunity with Pig Monitor Farm
At the end of last year, we were chosen to be the Pig Monitor Farm in Scotland for the next three years. This should be a great opportunity to dig deeper into the performance of the unit.
The breeding herd produces 27 pigs a sow a year weaned, which is acceptable, but we could do better to get up there with the very top producers.
Mortality is running high at 13% and we are working hard at trying to reduce this. The finishing herd has good and not so good areas, but the main issue seems to be growth, or lack of it. This comes from low-feed intake, so this is the area we are putting the effort into, by recording weights more accurately and finding out where in the system the problems are occurring.
At the last local pig discussion group meeting, Ian Lyle of Boehringer Ingelheim, talked about a manager’s group that he and Allan Ward of QMS have set up to allow only managers and stockmen to meet and discuss issues that they have on their units. So far they have covered conception, pre-post weaned pig management and the nutrition of the modern sow. Brian, our farrowing stockman, seems to find these meetings very good and brings back new ideas to try.
Allan spoke of his work with Wholesome Pigs (the Scottish abattoir surveillance programme). He showed slides of how he collected samples in the slaughterhouse and carcass scoring in the lungs and other organs. We knew Allan did a lot for the Scottish pig industry, but his talk showed just how much he really does with Wholesome Pigs and QMS.
Danny Skinner farms 440 sows near Insch, Aberdeenshire, selling finished pigs through Scottish Pig Producers. He farms 125ha at home and rents a further 50ha, all growing cereals for home mixing
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