Close Attention to Nutrition Benefits Babcock
When you are in the pig genetics business, your nucleus herd is your livelihood. For Rochester, Minnesota-based Babcock Genetics, Inc., it means paying close attention to nutrition and pig performance at the nucleus level. The company is utilizing Feedlogic technology at its nucleus site near La Crosse, WI to accomplish these goals.
Babcock closed its nucleus herd over 30 years ago and pioneered the Closed Herd System concept. This system has provided their customers with high health status and improved overall performance.
To ensure its nucleus grower pigs are not overfed or underfed, Babcock formulates two base diets and blends them to create many diets and feed on a curve. Until recently, the company was using a “kitchen-style” centralized feed delivery system to accomplish this but the system was difficult to manage and required a lot of maintenance.
Babcock installed two Feedlogic FeedSaver systems to replace the centralized system in two 1,200-head finisher rooms. After six months of operation, barn manager Keely Rykken said the systems are proving to be a good investment.
“The installation went smoothly and we had our people trained quickly,” she said. “The system is much simpler to operate than the centralized system we were using.”
Rykken said FeedSaver provides tremendous flexibility with feeding strategies. “We are currently feeding out our boars in this barn and we need a way to feed each group differently because they are not all entering the barn at the same time,” she said.
“The FeedSaver allows us to feed each group to a different curve. Heavier pigs can be started on a different diet than lighter pigs. Once the curve is set up in the system, it automatically changes the diet as pigs grow. Managing feed is simple with just two base diets – we always keep the same diet in each bin so it’s hard to get it wrong.”
With feed prices on the rise, Babcock president Jim McPeak Sr. sees a lot of potential for the Feedlogic system in other areas of commercial production. “There’s no question that producers will need to pay closer attention to feeding,” he said. “With the Feedlogic system, you have opportunity to reduce feed cost by switching from stepped diets to feeding on a curve. You can also target diets more effectively in barns with animals of different ages and sizes.
“Within our closed herd system, we have shown that high-health pigs can make continuous flow barns viable in terms of growth rate and days to market. Combine that with a Feedlogic system to reduce feed cost and the numbers look quite good. It’s a very appealing option for a smaller producer who doesn’t have the capital to go to all-in-all-out production systems.”
www.babcockgenetics.com
www.feedlogic.com
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