Shropshire Star

Pigs project gets off to flying start

I’m pleased to report that, since my last column, we’ve held our first Gilt Watch meeting, writes Angela Cliff.

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Angela Cliff, AHDB Pork knowledge exchange manager for central England.

It was great to see over 30 pig farmers come together from around the country, all looking to improve productivity from their breeding herds, and that was just the starting point.

We’ve recognised that, across the industry, breeding herds need to retain more young sows (gilts) in the herd if they are to make significant gains in physical and financial performance.

Putting it into perspective, it typically costs around £250 to rear a gilt, so putting in the groundwork to make sure they get past their first or second parity and reach their full lifetime potential is vital to get a return on that investment.

At the first meeting, we invited Lisbeth Shooter to speak about how a similar programme has been working in Denmark. Ms Shooter is the Senior Manager (Pigs) at SEGES, the Danish Pig Research Centre.

There were 21 Danish pig producers involved in the one-year project with SEGES from 2015 to 2016, which aimed to improve the longevity and productivity of young sows.

The results were: 17 out of 21 farms improved their numbers of pigs weaned per sow, herds retained more sows in their third and fourth parities (which is the most productive period) and gross margin per sow per year improved in more than half of them – the highest by £59.

Stephen Hall of Stephen Hall Management Ltd also spoke at the meeting. He specialises in the interpretation of production data and advising on how to turn it into action.

Mr Hall used a case study herd to show how existing herd data can be grouped and analysed differently to identify opportunities for improvements. He explained that the number of sows, typically, lost during five parities can reduce a herd’s number of pigs weaned per sow per lifetime to 16 to 20 pigs below their full potential. Mr Hall emphasised the need to increase young sow retention to realise more of that potential and get more return on the money invested in gilts.

The producers taking part in Gilt Watch are going to be monitoring individual performance from groups of gilts, implementing changes and meeting twice a year to review progress. They’ll also be sharing their experiences with the wider pig industry.

The next step for producers is to work with AHDB Pork to extract the first set of herd data from their recording systems, so they can begin the analysis of current performance and discussions about where management changes can be made.

  • Angela Cliff is AHDB Pork knowledge exchange manager for central England.