11 June 2024
What sets the top performing pig farms apart?
Compiled by the Teagasc Pig Development Department, an analysis of the performance of the pig farms that participated in the Teagasc Profit Monitor recording system in 2023 has highlighted some key trends.
Based on the performance of 91 herds, the analysis is representative of over 78,000 sows or 58% of the total Irish sow herd.
Across the monitored herds, a rise to 14.94 pigs born alive per litter and an increase in litters per sow per year (2.26 in 2023 compared to 2.24 in 2023), combined with a slight rise in weaner and finisher mortality, has caused the number of pigs produced per sow per year to increase from 27.4 in 2022 to 27.9 in 2023, the authors note.
This resulted in an average output of pig meat per sow per year of 2,491kg in 2023, which was produced using 8,809kg of feed. This means it took 3.54kg of feed to produce one kg of pig meat on the average farm. This figure was 3.56kg of feed to produce one kg of pig meat in 2022, but it is better than previous year’s figures when you consider that it ranged between 3.66 and 3.79 in the 10 years from 2001 to 2010.
Along with including details on weaner performance, finished performance and production costs, the report as delves into the performance of the top 10% of herds selected on the basis of the number of pigs produced per sow per year.
Table 1: Top 10% of herds selected on the basis of the number of pigs produced per sow per year
|
Top 10% 2023 |
Average 2023 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Number of herds | 10 | 91 |
| Average herd size | 793 | 864 |
| Number of pigs produced per sow per year | 31.7 | 27.9 |
| Litters per sow per year | 2.32 | 2.26 |
| Average weaning age (days) | 29 | 31 |
| Empty days per litter | 10 | 14 |
| Number born alive per litter | 15.82 | 14.94 |
| Number born dead per litter | 0.89 | 1.15 |
| Piglet mortality (%) | 7.5 | 11.3 |
| Weaner mortality (%) | 3.67 | 3.42 |
| Finisher mortality (%) | 2.79 | 3.2 |
| Sow culling rate (%) | 50.1 | 52.4 |
| Sow mortality (%) | 5.8 | 8.4 |
| Feed per sow per year (tonnes) | 1.45 | 1.41 |
When compared to the average, the top 10% of recorded herds selected on the basis of number of pigs produced per sow per year produced 3.8 more pigs per sow than the average for all recorded herds. These top performing herds had: a higher number of litters per sow per year; higher number of pigs born alive per litter; and lower mortality levels in piglets, weaners and finishers.
The above article is just a brief summary of the Teagasc National Pig Herd Performance Report 2023. For detailed information, access the full report here.