7 tips on getting more pounds on your pigs in the next 6 months
The summer will bring the change in weather we’ve all been looking forward to, but also slows finishing gains at a time when markets are typically at their highest. Markets this summer are showing plenty of promise! Going in to a time when temperatures and prices rise and market hog weight gain declines, we will focus on a few tips and reminders to keep weight gains as high as possible.
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- Utilize floor space – When barns are stocked, we fill according to total square footage. However, in execution, we com-monly see sites with underutilized floor space. This typically results from improper pull pen management:
- Excess pull pen space – It’s a common (and good) practice to plan ahead for health challenges. Allocating multiple pens as hospital/recovery pens helps recover early startup challenged pigs. However, it’s a common occurrence that this vacant space is not needed, yet these pens remain empty either through the majority or entirety of a turn. This results in increased stocking density in the general population, leading to decreased feed consumption caused by inability to thermoregulate in dense pens and increased competition at the feeder.
- Low stocking density of pull pens – Some groups (especially non-health challenged groups) have very few pulls. This results in greatly understocked pull pens, which increases the yardage cost of the pigs that are of least value (culls). Early identification of no-value animals and removal can open space for full value hogs. By pulling fallouts or slower growing pigs earlier in the turn, we can better utilize this space.
- Revisit growth and efficiency promoters – Products such as beta agonists (ractopamine) and ionophores (narasin) can help improve ADG and feed efficiency. The improvements gained may not be financially advantageous in lower mar-kets and cooler weather, yet summer markets provide higher incentive for marginal gains. Always ensure your packer will accept hogs enrolled in these feeding programs prior to implementation.
- Feed for the weather and the markets – Work with your nutritionist to maximize gain and balance cost of gain. Increas-ing fat inclusion and lysine levels will increase cost, but gains achieved through increasing energy and amino acid avail-ability can be easily offset with high markets.
Fine tune the environment – Heat removal is critical in summer feeding. Ensuring these items are addressed will help maximize heat removal.
- Fan and inlet maintenance – motors functioning, bearings greased, shutters cleaned and in good repair, fan cones in good condition.
- Program for the season – set offsets for no more than 1 degree be-tween stages. Setting offsets to 1.5 or 2 degrees between stages in the winter helps to balance environment but will delay heat removal in the summer.
- Sprinklers working? – wetting pigs in hot temperatures will allow for evaporative cooling and can have an effective temperature influence up to a 10 degree reduction. Double check that sprinkler solenoids are functioning and sprinkler tips are cleaning and broadcasting pens properly.
- Wash pit fans and seal pumpout covers – Wean to finish barns turned in the spring may be the only opportunity to wash fans for the year. A ¼” of dust on a fan can decrease efficiency up to 30%. After spring pumping, be sure pumpouts are covered and sealed with expansion foam.
- Avoid the avoidable – Vaccinate! – Not vaccinating or partial dosing vaccine for disease like PCVAD or intermittent dis-eases such as Erysipelas or Ileitis is a common cost reduction strategy. In current market conditions, a late term Erysipelas, ileitis, or PCVAD break will quickly outweigh the added cost of a thorough vaccine program.
- Avoid feed restriction/outages – With feed costs relatively low in relation to market prices, adjusting feeders to slightly heavier pan coverage could reduce competition at the feeder and may improve daily intake. Feed outages will be particularly costly as any reduction of intake could impact gain.
- Be accurate on target weight – Increased focus on marketing the right hogs at the right time will pay big dividends this summer.
- Hit the right weight – Marketing pigs too late puts late finishing groups tight on space, restricts feed intakes, and misses optimal value. Marketing too light misses a big opportunity to add weight. Strategies such as weighing a subset of pigs prior to market window or using a measurement belt to estimate weight may be useful tools.
- Market the right pigs – This is self-explanatory, but worth mention to ensure standard carcass weight deviation on pack-er reports are monitored closely. The smaller the deviation, the tighter the group. “Gate cutting” or not taking the time to identify the biggest pigs in a lot will hurt both on opportunity loss and floor space restriction.
- Tail end finishing – Transporting the bottom end of a site to a “tail end” site for further feeding will likely pay with the summer markets. Any opportunity to add pounds marketed can quickly accommodate for added cost of transport. This also will help reduce yardage cost of finishing space by freeing up space to allow sites to be refilled.
- Utilize floor space – When barns are stocked, we fill according to total square footage. However, in execution, we com-monly see sites with underutilized floor space. This typically results from improper pull pen management:
Fly control – An important part of disease control and animal well-being
Fly populations left unchecked can have a negative impact on the growth of your pigs. We all know that flies are unwel-comed guests on our farms (and in the cab of our vehicles!), but we should also remember that flies have been linked to transmission of diseases such as PEDv, PRRS, E.coli and Swine Dysentery. With the looming threat of African Swine Fe-ver transmission at our shores, we need to be sure we are doing all we can to prevent fly and insect populations from going unchecked. What should we do to control fly populations?
- Agitate pits – Pit crusting allows an environment for fly larvae to grow and proliferate. By agitating and breaking this up, we may solve a big piece of the problem.
- Include a larvicide in the feed. ClariFly Larvicide (active ingredient diflubenzuron) is a feed supplement labeled for swine that prevents biting flies and house flies from developing into adults. The product is dispersed in the manure and prevented larvae development. There is no withdrawal for the product.
- Neoporex is another larvicidal option that is applied directly into the pit.
- Keep manure down in the pit – Finishing barn alleys often accumulate solid ma-nure. This manure can house fly larvae. Allowing pigs to run the alley and knock this into the pit or scraping alleys can prevent this.
- Make sure rendering is picked up regularly and deads are not allowed to decay.
- Mow/spray weeds, maintain sterile zone around the barn.
- Keep compost working! Turn compost piles regularly and make sure there is enough carbon substrate to maintain the breakdown process.
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