Indoor pig warning
Indoor pig warning
INDOOR pig producers are being urged to improve health and feeding regimes to counter a five-year trend of stagnant productivity.
PIC warns that if action is not taken many indoor producers will find themselves in serious trouble.
In the past five years the gap betwen indoor and outdoor producers has been narrowing, says production specialist John Goss.
He points to the 80.5% farrowing rates for indoor herds – 2% lower than five years ago and only 4.5% higher than the conception rate on outdoor units.
"The efficiency gap between indoor and outdoor producers is closing. Outdoor herds improved performance in 1995 in all the important aspects: Farrowing rate, numbers born, piglet mortality and lost days. With the exception of numbers born, indoor performance was worse in every respect."
He urges scrutiny of health and feeding regimes to see where improvements can be made. *