February 21, 2025
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Challenging economic times mean a push for efficiencies throughout the operation
Dr. Ethan Spronk, a veterinarian at Swine Vet Center based in St. Peter, Minnesota, USA, spoke to The Pig Site’s Sarah Mikesell in late February at the American Association of Swine Veterinarian’s conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Editor’s note: this interview has been edited for length and clarity.
It’s been a challenging economic time, what can pig producers do to minimize their losses?
Over the last 18 months, the industry’s probably been through some of the toughest financial times that we’ve seen in the last few decades. Producers should investigate diverse cost-saving options and consider risk and return on investment to the system.
Start by looking at feed efficiency and those slat level efficiencies, but then also take a step back and look at bigger operational efficiencies. There’s often money left on the table when times are good. But there are lots of efficiencies that we can capitalize on as hog producers.
Slat-level: Work with your chores people on better individual pig care and improve feeder management like checking that feeder settings are correct.
Feed: Consider how to get more efficient using technologies at the feed mill. For example, use bin scales, infrared lasers or tracking systems to minimize out-of-feed events that can be a costly part of raising pigs and occur often in the current model of pig production utilizing contract growers. It’s also important to make sure you’re optimizing swine diets. The biggest expense in pig production is your feed so make sure to get the most out of it.
Labor: Focus on training your staff. The whole world struggled after COVID trying to find labor and get people back on sites and active. The swine industry was no different; and we continue to struggle with labor shortages. Now we’ve got to find more skilled labor, and we’ve got to keep training, improving and advancing their skills. As an owner or manager, I can have plans on paper and ideas in my head, but until my team in the barn can execute those ideas it doesn’t matter. We need to keep it simple and teach the team how to do their tasks correctly as well as why they are important to complete.
Transportation: Look at transporting cull sows on the same trailer as wean pigs. It can save loaded miles and decreases contact points to the sow farm. However, there is a disease risk to consider. Another idea to reduce costs is to consider marketing the last half of the site with unwashed trailers. There are health risks to consider, but they may be minimized with monitoring protocols.
Finance: Understand where you stand financially with your banker and how you compare to other people in the industry. Everyone has had a very tough 18 months. Now consider how to recover from that and move forward with a more optimistic outlook going into the summer of 2024.
Bottom line, what can these changes really mean for a producer?
Depending on where you’re starting from, it can mean survival in the industry. This has been the epitome of struggle for producers, and there are a lot of producers who have exited the market or looked at other options for how to raise pigs because of the current times. It really could mean survival unless you can perfect and exercise diligence on the slat level and the management of the business.
It sounds like it’s time to think differently?
Yes, it’s taking a step back and bringing in the experts that help your business run, like your veterinarian and nutritionist, and bringing in others who can look at your business with a fresh set of eyes.
How does communication fit into this process?
It’s so valuable, and it’s one of the fun things at Swine Vet Center that we work hand-in-hand with a lot of nutritionists and bankers, the slat-level team and owners and farm managers. It’s important to bring the team together with everyone sitting around a table and making that connection. That’s what makes my job fun – getting all the right people together.
Even though many swine businesses are family -owned, they’re not mom-and-pop shops anymore. They’re well-oiled machines, and they’re integrated with a lot of people who have influence. We need to make sure we have them all at the table.
The process brings a lot of varying opinions, and our job is to examine those opinions and sit down with the data, understand it and then work through applying change because systems are different. There are a lot of smart people in the industry, and it’s gathering information from the right people. This is very important for every company that’s raising pigs.