GROWTH in Carcass Improvement:

Boars and gilts probed at F&S Hog Farm in January give an awesome result in days growth to 100 kg.

Breed	No.	Average Backfat	Loin Depth	Age to 100 kg	Est. Lean Yield
Landrace boars	5	8.5 mm	64.0 mm	131	64.6%%
Landrace gilts	10	8.8 mm	63.9 mm	130	64.5%
Yorkshire boars	3	8.8 mm	62.9 mm	133	64.5%
Yorkshire gilts	14	8.8 mm	63.9 mm	140	64.5%

Thanks to each our continuing customers for their ongoing purchases! There are more and more farms leaving the pork production industry.

(Reprinted from V5,No2 PEAK of Performance News! by the late Dr. Frank Aherne. This series will continue for nine episodes.)

The purpose of the breeding herd is to consistently produce a targeted number of high quality weaners in an efficient manner and at low cost. We highlighted some key words such as consistently and targeted. If you target 100 or 500 weaners per week, then there must be as little as possible variation around those numbers. Averages don’t tell the story. Producing 150 one week and another 50 another week may average 100 per week but it is not a desirable or profitable way to do business. One week your facilities are overcrowded and the next week they are underutilized. So, reduced variation in weaner supply is a critical issue in breeding herd efficiency. Also, remember that flow rate is probably up there with pig price as a determinant of profitability.

So how do we achieve a consistent, targeted output of weaners? Weaned pig output is a product of number of pigs weaned per sow per year (efficiency) and breeding female inventory (capacity). A major factor determining weaned pig production is obviously herd size. It is important that your herd size is appropriate for the facilities available. There are several ways to calculate sow inventory. We will present three ways and perhaps PEAK Swine Genetics customers can suggest others?

Calculating Sow Inventory:

1. What percentage of the herd is inactive?
% inactive sows equals the average non productive days divided by 365. For a herd with 45 non-productive days, the % inactive sows = 45/365 = 0.12 or 12%.
2. Determine number of groups?
No. groups = gestation length plus lactation length plus wean-service interval divided by the interval between farrowing groups. For a herd farrowing weekly, with 16 days lactation length and wean-service interval of 6 days and a gestation length of 114 days, the number of groups = 16 plus 6 plus 114 divided by 7 = 20 groups (approximately).
3. Add the inactive sows to total groups?
Total groups equal the number of active groups times 1 plus the percentage of inactive sows. In our example, total groups = 20 x 1.12 = 23 groups.
Total female inventory is now calculated as: No. groups times No. crates per group times farrowing capacity.
In our example there are 56 farrowing crates available per week. The herd tries to farrow 5% more sows than it has crates for and then zero weans all small litters or cross-fosters small litters within 24 hours of farrowing.

So herd size is 23 x 56 x 1.05 = 1352 females. This number includes open replacement gilts.

A second method of desirable herd size can also be calculated as:

Herd size = No. farrowings/week x 54/ litters/sow/year
For a herd farrowing with 56 farrowings/week and 2.25 litters/sow/year, herd size would be 56 farrowings/week x 52 weeks/ 2.25 litters per sow/year = 1213 sows. If 5% added farrowing capacity is used, and 4.5% gilt pool included, it would bring herd size to 1331 females.

The third method can be estimated from herd data:
-litters/sow/year = 2.25
-crate turn, days = 28
-litters/crate/year = 13
-females/crate = 5.8
Inventory = total farrowing crates x 5.8 = 224 x 5.8 = 1299 sows, not including the gilt pool. Add 56 gilts for a total of 1355 females.

Summary

To consistently meet a targeted number of weaned pigs per week, it is essential to meet the breeding targets, have good farrowing rates but also have your herd sized correctly to maximize facility utilization.

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