The Silent Thief
By Don Lidster, DNL Farms Ltd.
No one has to be told what the cost of feed does to the bottom line in pig production, but the actual feed price can sometimes be the “little thief” in our operations. The big thief can be the way and the amount of feed that is presented to our animals in the barn. Gone are the days with the attitude that pigs will eat garbage and “slop” so why worry about a little spoiled feed in the corners of our finisher or nursery feeders. A little spoiled feed in the corners soon becomes spoiled feed all across the feeder to the point of total shut down.
Study after study has shown that time spent adjusting feeders properly is time well spent. The key word is “proper.” Settings that a few years ago would have been considered restrictive are now considered to be the norm. An excellent way to get everyone in your operation on the same page as to what is a proper setting is to take a picture of the proper setting, laminate it with plastic and nail it to every door to a finisher or nursery room. I would be willing to bet this would not be a frivolous expenditure of scarce funds.
The silent thief can work overtime in the farrowing barn. The first and most obvious place is wasted feed from sow feeders. This can be done by the sows themselves or by technicians doing their best to provide fresh feed to the sow without the proper training.
Secondly and probably an equally thieving process happens when sows are not fed as much feed as they could or would eat if the feed was properly presented. Sows that don't eat enough feed do not milk to their potential. When sows do not milk to their potential, piglets do not grow to their potential. Hungry piglets often have higher pre-weaning moralities. We are robbed again.
In addition to not milking to potential sows that are not fed all they will eat will lose condition which affects the way they ovulate when they are weaned which in turn affects the subsequent litter size and viability. Robbed again.
Feed availability for farrowing sows is all dependent on the system in use and how well the staff is trained to use that system. I have seen automatic systems feeding the farrowing sows five times a day doing an excellent job and I have seen farrowing sows manually fed twice a day doing an excellent job also. Of course, the converse is true also in both cases. It all comes down to the system being used to its potential.
How much feed are you offering in the gestation barn? Are you feeding more feed than you need to? Is the feed getting to the sow that needs it? I have been involved with a production system that found it economical to backfat probe sows and adjust feeders twice during gestation to make sure that they were giving the sows the amount the sows needed to produce a large litter and rebreed on time. Sows will eat for recreation if the feed is presented to them. With the current feed prices we have, we best offer only what they need. Sometimes the biggest thief gets to take our money unchallenged.
DNL Farms Ltd. is a consulting company from White Fox Saskatchewan that focuses on staff training. After completing their degrees in Agriculture, brief careers in industry and 20 years in the pig business, the principals, Don & Nancy Lidster have produced numerous training videos for their clientele as well as done extensive work with low stress pig handling. They can be contacted at dnlfarms@xplornet.com or (306) 276-5761.
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