|
British Pig & Poultry Fair 2008: Testing system builds-in big feed savings
With sustained high feed prices continuing to put producers under pressure, pig-breeding company ACMC will be demonstrating at the British Pig and Poultry Fair how the use of genetically-superior stock can reduce production costs.
The company claims to be unique in the way it tests its pigs — individually testing both sire and dam lines — rather than simply the male side — using the sophisticated FIRE (Feed Intake Recording Equipment) system.
“Although expensive, this system has a considerable impact on the speed of genetic improvement,” commented Ed Sutcliffe, ACMC’s technical director. “This selection method of incorporating feed recording can improve overall accuracy of selection by 10 per cent, but when you look at the response of individual traits, it can increase the rate of improvement of FCR by as much as 60 per cent.”
Taking into account the improvement seen in both sire and dam lines, over 10 years this has led to a 0.293 improvement in feed conversion ratio resulting in the average slaughter pig consuming more than 25 kg less feed to 94 kg liveweight.
Using figures from the BPEX 2007 Yearbook and adding 50 per cent to the cost of feed to give a price of £197.33 per tonne, to reflect current levels, Mr Sutcliffe has calculated that the value of this improvement is £4.99 per pig.
Again using the BPEX Yearbook figures, for an average size sow herd of 437 selling 19.71 pigs annually, this adds up to a feed saving of no less that £42,955.51 — an average improvement of £4,295.55 per year over the 10-year period.
The savings in the individual lines are even greater, he points out. For instance, feed conversion of the Vantage boar, which accounts for 50 per cent of the genetic make-up of the slaughter pig — has improved by 50 per cent, or 0.393, equivalent to £6.72 per pig.
<< Back to News
|
