How to get things just right when feeding pigs

Producers Richard Hooper and Phil Stephenson cited key benefits of lowering feed costs per pig, as well as a reduction in labour intensity and less feed wastage. As a result, overall feed savings of up to 10 per cent were identified, although the systems do involve high initial investment.

Richard Hooper manages a 240-sow indoor unit at Harper Adams University. He has introduced a "multifast" feeding system that delivers a specific blend of feed to each pen of finishers to meet each pig's nutritonal requirements more accurately.

Phil Stephenson, owner and manager of a 700-sow, indoor farrow-to-finish unit, spoke about his Gestal wireless sow feeding system.

"It's used in the farrowing house and ensures that each sow receives the correct amount of feed based on her parity. This varies between two feeds a day up to farrowing and six feeds a day post farrowing. The system has saved my business as much as £20,000 since installation," he said.

"The computer software allows each individual sow to be monitored from my office. The data produced means that I can nip any issue in the bud before it becomes too serious."

This tied in with another overarching message from the conference: If you don't measure it, you can't control it.

In his presentation, Hugh Crabtree of Farmex said: "Data should be turned into knowledge then used to generate profit. Even the most experienced can learn something when they start measuring."

He said there was no need to measure everything but the key elements were temperature, water, energy, feed and growth.

"The data must be used to get more things more right more of the time. Do that and the pigs' biology will respond."

Videos of the speakers at the BPEX Innovation Conference are all available to catch up with online for all who couldn't make it and those who'd like a reminder.

Around 200 people from across the pig industry attended the event at Stoneleigh Park, which was designed to highlight exciting and innovative solutions to meet the needs of modern, competitive businesses, looking locally and globally as well as learning from other industries.

Science, management techniques and technologies are emerging all the time and it's vital that we investigate them and adopt the best and most relevant available to make sure English pig businesses can close the performance gap with our European competitors.

Go to: www.bpex.org.uk/events/conferences/innovation/innovation2014.aspx

*Angela Cliff is BPEX knowledge transfer manager for central England