Northern Ireland-Pig Farmers have had a tough time.
Pig farmers respond to tough times
’When the going gets tough the tough get going.’ This popular saying could be applied to Northern Ireland (NI) pig producers.
The 2007/08 year was tough for producers with static pig prices and increasing costs. The main cost increase was feed which rose by almost 20%. However, pig producers responded to these tough times by improving production and increasing output.
Pig producers have been using benchmarking for the past eight years to calculate and compare performance. For the 2007/08 year, 56 units, representing approximately 36% of the NI sow herd, benchmarked the performance of their units.
The main differences between 2006/07 and 2007/08 Pig Benchmarking are:
* an increase in pigs produced/sow/year to 20.8. The top benchmarker produced 26.19 pigs/sow/year - an excellent achievement! Equally commendable, the top 10% produced 25 pigs showing that producers in NI can compete with the best in Europe. Reasons for the increase include continued commitment by producers, increased use of the Post Weaning Multisystemic Wasting Syndrome (PMWS) vaccine and the use of damline gilts / semen.
* a decrease in average carcase weight to 78.3 kg was in response to increased feed costs by producers. At very high feed costs it may not be economical to keep pigs to heavy weights although this will depend on feed efficiency and growth. There was a 14.4 kg range in average carcase weight, from a low of 69.9 kg to a high of 84.3 kg.
* Despite slightly lighter carcases there was an increase in the average amount of pigmeat produced/sow/year to 1,630 kg. The extra 88 kg of pigmeat produced per sow from the previous year was a result of the extra pigs produced/sow/year. The 1.63t of pigmeat per sow is the highest amount of pigmeat produced by benchmarkers in the past eight years. The top benchmarker produced 1,999.8 kg of pigmeat per sow - a fraction of the magic figure of 2t of pigmeat per sow!
* As expected there was an increase in feed costs from the previous year. The 20% rise was in line with other European countries. Across the EU the average feed cost in 2007 increased by 21%, ranging from 14% in the Republic of Ireland, to 26% in Sweden. Pig producers responded to the increase in feed costs by reducing slaughter weight and feeding less of the more expensive rations. In 2006/07 the average amounts of creep, link and grower fed / pig were 6, 13 and 65 kg. In 2007/08 6, 10 and 58 kg were fed.
Despite the increased cost/price pressures in 2007/08 pig producers responded by improving performance.
The improvement in performance resulted in the sale of an extra 1,150t of pigmeat by benchmarkers.
Increased output has the effect of reducing overall production costs, as non feed costs are spread over more kgs of pigmeat.
