Replacement rise
Replacement rise
OUR annual breeding sow replacement rate has now increased to 55% compared with 42% for the previous year as we accelerate the culling of the old C15 sows and the stop-gap bacon house gilts.
Other herds seem to be doing the opposite with 34% replacement rates. Meanwhile our farrowing rate has dropped disappointingly to 77% for the past six months which the HM Boot Pig Business Program forecast some months ago.
To counteract that and try and reach our business forecast we are currently squeezing an extra farrowing a week from that section which may drop the weaning rate from its currently improved figure of 7.6kg. Reducing sow feed usage down to 1.15t/sow/year and changing to a basic dry sow ration, fed up to two days after farrowing, seems to have reduced the risk of congested udders and to have improved piglet size. It must be said that the sows were a little too fit before. Average carcass weights are 0.4kgdw down year on the year although growth rate from weaning to slaughter was only one day down at 133 days. This is still 11 days quicker than top-third Agrosoft herds.
Having 8% of the finishing herd out of damline semen and space needed for growing breeding stock, has put pressure on the finishing space and feed efficiency. The feed conversion ratio was marginally down from 2.30 to 2.33. *
AGROSOFT AGROSOFT
Current year Previous year Top third Average
Period ended Yr ended Period ended Yr ended Compound Compound
31.05.02 31.05.02 31.05.02 21.05.01 31.05.01 31.05.01 Yr ended Yr ended
(3 months) (6 months) (3 months) (6 months) 31.03.02 31.03.02
BREEDING HERD
Herd structure
Av no sows and gilts in the herd 399 396 390 376 374 379 265 277
Av no unserved gilts 22 20 17 16 17 23 27 21
Av no productive sows 377 376 373 360 357 356 238 256
Sow performance factors
% breeding sow replacements 16.8 35.1 55.1 9.6 23.3 42.0 34.8 34.1
% breeding sow deaths 2.3 4.3 8.5 1.9 3.5 6.9 5.7 6.7
Recorded Services: Farrowings
(%)(*lagged) – 76.6* 77.9* – 78.0* 80.3* 79.7 78.4
Non-productive days 34 21* 31* 34 37* 32* 25 41
Av no litters/sow & gilt a year 2.25 2.34* 2.29* 2.27 2.25* 2.28* 2.31 2.22
Av no pigs reared/sow
& gilt a year 21.8 22.7* 21.9* 22.0 22.5* 23.3* 23.0 21.1
Qty sow & boar feed/sow
& gilt a year(t) 1.151 1.201 1.210 1.251 1.247 1.232 .220 1.240
Cost/t sow and boar feed (£) 114.95 119.74 118.10 108.68 104.14 101.35 114.07 114.97
Litter performance factors
Av no pigs born a litter: ALIVE 11.16 11.32 11.22 11.15 11.54 11.7 11.28 10.83
DEAD 1.03 1.09 1.11 0.97 1.10 1.01 0.96 1.07
MUMM 0.13 0.14 0.21 0.33 0.24 0.22 0.18 0.16
TOTAL 12.32 12.56 12.54 12.45 12.88 13.00 12.41 12.06
Av no pigs reared a litter 9.67 9.66 9.57 9.73 10.00 10.22 9.94 9.49
Pig performance factors
% mortality pigs born alive 13.3 14.7 14.8 12.8 13.4 13.2 11.9 12.4
Total feed cost/pig reared(£) 6.50 6.82 6.87 6.48 6.03 5.71 6.87 7.37
Av weight of pigs weaned(kg) 7.6 7.4 7.1 7.3 7.2 7.2 7.3 7.1
Av weaning age (days) 26 26 25 25 25 25 26 25
REARING HERD
No of pigs in herd 1382 1370 1372 1370 1393 1496 1881 2761
Av weight pigs leaving herd(kg) 43.0 43.0 42.6 43.7 43.4 41.8 46.3 45.4
Av daily liveweight gain (g) 574 550 565 564 577 566 573 524
No of days in herd 61 64 63 64 62 61 58 68
Mortality(%) 1.8 1.7 1.6 2.0 1.7 1.5 6.6 7.1
Av feed/pig a day(kg) 0.91 0.93 0.91 0.89 0.93 0.91 1.04 0.99
Feed conversion ratio
(kg feed/kg lwg) 1.58 1.69 1.61 1.58 1.61 1.61 1.82 1.89
Feed cost/kg lwg (p) 32.99 36.12 34.62 33.88 33.09 31.51 31.26 33.94
Overall cost/t feed (£) 208.52 213.82 214.93 213.89 205.16 195.98 171.32 179.14
FEEDING HERD
Av no pigs in herd 1450 1448 1458 1537 1537 1602 1192 1128
No pigs sold 1919 3701 7605 2097 4007 8335 – –
Av weight pigs leaving herd (kg) 98.8 99.0 97.8 99.4 98.7 98.0 100.1 95.6
Av daily liveweight gain (g) 786 778 785 793 764 793 756 715
No days in herd 70 72 70 70 72 71 83 82
Mortality(%) 2.9 2.7 2.4 2.5 2.9 2.3 2.6 3.9
Av feed/pig a day (kg) 2.20 2.23 2.21 2.16 2.14 2.17 1.96 2.02
Feed conversion ratio
(kg feed/kg lwg) 2.80 2.87 2.81 2.73 2.80 2.73 2.60 2.83
Feed cost/kg lwg (p) 35.98 37.84 37.14 34.39 33.51 31.76 31.77 36.88
Overall cost/t feed (£) 128.36 131.84 131.96 126.08 119.51 116.36 122.27 130.23
Av carcase weight (kg) 73.5 73.6 73.0 74.4 73.9 73.4 75.2 72.4
Av sale value (£) (live
& dead sales) 71.51 70.16 70.29 69.78 70.32 71.18 72.80 68.85
Av price/kg deadweight (p) 97.26 95.30 96.27 93.75 95.20 96.94 96.85 94.54
REARIND AND FEEDING HERD COMBINED
Av weight pigs eng herd (kg) 7.6 7.4 7.1 7.3 7.2 7.2 7.0 6.9
Av weight pigs leaving herd (kg) 98.8 98.8 97.8 99.4 98.7 98.0 95.8 94.0
Av daily liveweight gain (g) 683 667 679 685 675 687 617 573
No of days in herd 132 136 133 133 135 132 144 152
Mortality % 4.6 4.3 3.9 4.4 4.4 3.7 6.0 7.9
Av feed/pig a day (kg) 1.57 1.60 1.58 1.56 1.57 1.58 1.43 1.45
Feed conversion ratio
(kg feed/kg lwg) 2.30 2.40 2.35 2.28 2.32 2.30 2.31 2.53
Feed cost/kg lwg (p) 34.75 37.15 36.12 34.19 33.34 31.67 33.14 38.19
Overall cost/t feed (£) 150.96 154.99 155.11 149.71 143.71 137.81 143.17 150.72