Farmer Focus: We’ve cut labour cost by well over £100 a sow
© Tim Scrivener We’ve had Covid, continue to see a reduction in pig sales and oilseed rape has been written off by flea beetle.
It didn’t recover in some places and was too patchy, so some spring barley has gone in instead and will hopefully mean less bought-in feed.
January pig sales typically take a slight dip. However, the cutting of numbers sold each week has been magnified by the crisis that continues to challenge most pig farmers across the country.
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Weekly numbers of pigs sold are 10-15% down on what we need. We’ve used the “alternative accommodation” part of our contingency plan. An old shed that housed the potato grading line was converted around a year ago.
It is straw-based and is hand-fed, which makes it rather inefficient when it comes to labour costs.
See also: Eustice blames processors for pig crisis at NFU summit
Labour is undoubtedly a huge cost and one that I monitor closely. We have targets that I set and keep under constant review.
Some labour is split across both the pig and arable enterprises, based on workload. The bed-and-breakfast unit in Norfolk assumes that 50% of what we pay the farmer is attributed to labour with the remaining 50% being rent, straw, water etc.
Our 2021 labour cost a sow is £308.96, demonstrating how much more efficient we are now compared with just three or four years ago when it was £420 a sow a year.
There are many reasons, but mainly because we increased the herd size and invested in more slatted accommodation as opposed to straw.
It is also due to investing in electronic sow feeders and sorting technology and a better layout of buildings reduced the time spent moving pigs.
If we still had that higher labour cost a sow then I’m not sure we would still be operating – a scary thought. It certainly shows how important it is to look at all costs and act on the analysis.
We started the spring spreading season with our new umbilical system applying digestate for a customer. The next job for that equipment will be applying slurry at ours.
If you have any slurry or digestate you would like applied, then please get in touch with me for an estimate.