Optimising finishing pig sales strategy

The average Irish sale-weight per pig has increased steadily by 1kg per year over the last decade, which ideally would have resulted in a pro-rata increase in pig finisher accommodation.

However, low profit margins in recent years have resulted in pig units being unable to afford the required extra housing. An average 600-sow unit would have required an additional €350,000 investment over the last decade.

To accommodate these heavier pigs, some pig units are now being stocked within the legal limits but at sub-optimum levels for maximum performance. This is resulting in unseen losses in profitability. Like a leaking tap, everyone knows there is some leakage but not the scale of it. The three main loss areas are: 1. Performance, 2. Factory Grading, 3. Output per m2.

Performance

The legal floor space requirement for growing pigs between 85kg and 110kg liveweight is 0.65m2 (7ft2) but such pigs stocked at these levels are unlikely to grow to their maximum efficiency. Reduced floor area/space in the weeks prior to slaughter is likely to result in increased competition and stress, thereby reducing the average daily gain (ADG) and increasing the feed conversion efficiency (FCE) of the pigs.

A US study estimated the optimum space requirement per pig and the space reduction required to give a 5% decrease in growth rates. The average sale weight in Ireland (Teagasc ePM 2015) was 108kg, which according to this trial work requires 0.78M2 (8.4ft2) to achieve optimum growth rates (Table 2). Many units in Ireland have struggled to achieve this space allowance in recent years.

Floor space requirement becomes a limiting factor in the last weeks before sale. If pigs have sub-optimum floor area at this stage, then their growth rates will decrease significantly, reducing the overall efficiency of the pig finishing unit.

Factory grading

The higher the stocking rate above the optimum, then the greater the increase in weight variation within the pen due to less feeding time per pig as the number of pigs per feeder increases.

Larger pigs appear to be able to cope better with overstocking by eating faster, but smaller pigs suffer reduced feed intakes. The reduced growth rates of small pigs when the stocking rates are high leads to increased sale weight variation within pens. This increased variation inevitably leads to more slaughter pigs falling out of the premium price brackets (either too heavy or too light) with a resultant decrease in the average price/kg.

Table 1 illustrates the grading weight penalties from a sample load of 220 pigs. It highlights the number and cost of pigs falling into the financial penalty dead-weight brackets, ie under 65kg, 95-105kg, and over 105kg. This illustrates a potential loss of €344 per load of 220 pigs.

Output per m2

The increased pig performance potential through greater space allowance must be balanced with generating the maximum output of pigmeat that the buildings can produce. Maximising output while not compromising growth and feed efficiency of the pig is a balancing trick.

Highly stocked pens will generate high output per M2 of floor space but it may be at the expense of FCE, conversely lowly stocked pens may produce the best growth and feed efficiency but the accommodation cost is too high.

If your unit is stocked above the optimum, then obviously the medium-term solution is to decrease sow numbers to the required number or build extra weaner and finisher accommodation. However, these two options can take time to plan, fund and build. In the short term, the most effective strategy is to ensure that finisher pigs in the last weeks prior to slaughter have extra space as this is when the need is greatest. Numerous studies have shown that when the heaviest pigs are removed from a pen, in a single selection, the remaining pigs experience increased performance due to higher feed intake and better feed utilisation (less stress).

A US trial illustrates the effect of removing the biggest pigs three weeks before sale (Table 3). In this trial, 52 pigs per pen were left either: completely intact until sale, numbers were reduced by 50%, three weeks before sale. The subsequent higher performance of the remaining pigs illustrates the benefit of this programme.

However, does the higher ADG and FCE compensate for the requirement to sell a percentage of the pigs three weeks earlier?

The calculated pigmeat output per m2, shown in Table 4, illustrates that by selling 25% of the pigs in advance, the output/m2 can still be maintained while still benefiting from the superior ADG and FCE.

If implementing this policy, it is important to ensure that the three-week pre-sale selection is taken from all pens of the same age – hence the importance of the pigs being unsorted entering the finisher accommodation. Otherwise, only a few pens will benefit from improved performance rather than the whole week’s sale.

Get a plan

If your finisher unit is over-stocked, then you need to formulate a plan that everyone understands and, more importantly, follows. If members of staff start selecting finishers on their own ad-hoc basis it will deteriorate your performance rather than improving it. Some key elements of this plan should be:

What’s in it for me?

The financial benefits from a successful plan for an average 600 sow unit are:

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Optimising finishing pig sales strategy

Teagasc Pig Research, Advisory, Education and Training Programme 2016-2020