of Pork Industry Productivity. pork.org

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1 pork.org SUMMARY Analysis of Pork Industry Productivity The Animal Science Committee of the National Pork Board recognized that there is a lack of publically available information for producers to use when benchmarking productivity in various phases of production. Therefore, they initiated the Industry Productivity Analysis with the purpose of providing data documenting the productivity of U.S. pork production. The information mined from analysis of this data is intended to benefit all producers through improved productivity at the farm level and allow them to determine areas where they may be able to make improvements in their management to rapidly affect profitability. It will also serve to inform the checkoff programs, academics and other funding agencies about areas of research which are likely to have the greatest impact on productivity. The following information was prepared from the final report submitted by Dr. Ken Stalder at Iowa State University. The report before you is heavily truncated in the sake of brevity, but the full report can be found at pork.org/animalscience.

2 Introduction The swine industry continually strives to increase production efficiency. Additionally, it is known that seasonal effects impacting productivity in the swine industry exist. In order to quantify the overall improvement in productivity in the industry and to determine how seasonality impacts the industry as a whole, a national database was analyzed for production changes between seasons, across years, and among different production systems. The results presented in this report are based on data from pork production companies representing approximately 35% of U.S. pork production. The objective of this analysis was to quantify the annual production levels and the variation associated with several key performance indicators for the swine industry in all swine production phases (i.e. sow farm, nursery, wean-to-finish, and conventional finisher facilities) from 2007 to It was also the goal to quantify seasonal effects associated with these key performance indicators. The results of this analysis indicate that the swine industry has been successful in improving production efficiency. Changes have been made to increase the pounds of pork produced in a given time frame while reducing finishing mortality. This, along with increased litter size, has substantially increased the throughput of the swine industry as a whole. The industry improvements over time can largely be attributed to better genetics, health, management and nutrition. One way these data may be utilized by companies and individual producers is by using it to establish production benchmarks and targets (goals). Benchmarks are used to describe achievable performance levels for various production indicators. Benchmarks can be used to make performance comparisons between countries, companies, and farms. These comparisons can then be used to set goals for increasing whole-herd performance. Producers can determine which production indicators need to be improved relative to the benchmark values. It is important to set attainable goals where improvements can be made incrementally. Once goals are set a plan must be defined and implemented to achieve the desired performance. 2 Demographics and Production Measures The farms reporting in this data set may represent a single farm or multiple sites owned by an overarching company. The data was collected from farms representing approximately 2.3 million sows and their associated pigs. Records were reported monthly for each production stage. All data are presented as means and their associated standard deviation. The top 25%, overall average and bottom 25% of farms in each production stage was determined. The farms in each percentile were determined for each production indicator meaning that the farms in each percentile are not necessarily the same for each production indicator. The top and bottom were defined as desirable and undesirable for each trait rather than numerically higher and lower. Key Production Indicators in this Analysis: Conventional Finisher Wean-Finish* Nursery Sow Farm Mortality (%) Mortality (%) Mortality (%) Pigs/Mated Sow/Year Finishing Weight (lbs) Finishing Weight (lbs) Exit Weight (lbs) Litters/Mated Sow/Year Days in Finisher Days in Finisher Days in Nursery Total Born Average Daily Gain (lbs/day) Average Daily Gain (lbs/day) Average Daily Gain (lbs/day) Stillborn and Mummies Feed Conversion (F:G) Feed Conversion (F:G) Feed Conversion (F:G) Number Born Alive Number Weaned Pre-weaning Mortality (%) Weaning Weight (lbs) Weaning Age (d) *All Wean-Finish data has been removed from this report in the sake of brevity. The full report, which includes the Wean-to-Finish data, can be found at pork.org/animalscience.

3 Results Overall Productivity The highlights of the improvements in overall productivity are listed below. The data in the tables are presented as an average and their associated standard deviation. The standard deviation is important because it gives an indication of how much variation is present. Key production indicators that have large variation may represent areas where the most progress can be made. Finishing mortality has decreased by about 2% for both types of finisher facilities (grow-finish and wean-tofinish) from 2007 to Finishing weights increased over time for both conventional finisher and wean-to-finish facilities; however, days in finisher remained the same for conventional finishers and increased for wean-to-finish facilities. Wean-to-finish facilities had higher mortality compared to conventional finishers. Average daily gain increased for conventional finishers and remained relatively unchanged for wean-to-finish facilities. Feed conversion has slightly improved for both finisher types from 2007 through Nursery production levels have changed little over this time period. Pigs/mated sow/year has increased by almost 2 pigs from 2007 to Litters/mated sow/year changed little suggesting that most of the increase in pigs/mated sow/year has been a result of increasing litter size. Total born increased by over a pig from 2007 to 2012 with some of the increase being still born and mummies so that number born alive has only increased by one pig. Number weaned increased by 0.8 pigs. Percent pre-weaning mortality increased. Weaning age has increased by 2 days and weaning weight has increased by 1 lb. Conventional Finisher Productivity Percent Mortality 6.98 (±5.61) 6.29 (±4.60) 5.12 (±3.44) 4.70 (±3.05) 4.48 (±2.49) 5.03 (±3.30) Finishing Weight (lbs) (±17.0) (±16.1) (±14.9) (±13.4) (±12.8) (±14.1) Days in Finisher (±11.0) (±11.0) (±11.4) (±10.3) (±9.7) (±10.8) Average Daily Gain (lbs) 1.71 (±0.16) 1.69 (±0.16) 1.75 (±0.15) 1.76 (±0.14) 1.81 (±0.14) 1.81 (±0.15) Feed Conversion 2.75 (±0.26) 2.82 (0.32) 2.76 (±0.27) 2.77 (±0.25) 2.71 (±0.24) 2.68 (±0.23) 3

4 Nursery Productivity Percent Mortality 4.42 (±4.12) 5.82 (±5.71) 4.68 (±4.41) 4.12 (±3.62) 4.32 (±4.32) 3.80 (±3.01) Exit Weight 48.0 (±7.5) 49.0 (±9.2) 49.4 (±8.4) 50.7 (±9.1) 50.3 (±9.3) 50.7 (±8.4) Days in Nursery 47.1 (±5.0) 47.4 (±6.8) 46.2 (±5.4) 46.2 (±5.5) 46.0 (±6.1) 46.0 (±5.1) Average Daily Gain (lbs) 0.76 (±0.12) 0.78 (±0.14) 0.80 (±0.13) 0.82 (±0.14) 0.81 (±0.14) 0.82 (±0.13) Feed Conversion 1.51 (±0.23) 1.54 (±0.30) 1.53 (±0.29) 1.52 (±0.28) 1.53 (±0.25) 1.48 (±0.19) Sow Farm Productivity Pigs/Mated Sow/Year 22.6 (±2.8) 22.8 (±2.9) 23.2 (±3.0) 23.5 (±2.7) 24.1 (±3.1) 23.9 (±2.8) Litters/Mated Sow/Year 2.36 (±0.22) 2.35 (±0.23) 2.34 (±0.21) 2.33 (±0.20) 2.33 (±0.22) 2.31 (±0.22) Total Born 12.3 (±0.9) 12.5 (±0.9) 12.8 (±0.9) 13.0 (±1.0) 13.4 (±1.1) 13.4 (±1.0) Stillborn and Mummies 1.19 (±0.42) 1.23 (±0.49) 1.20 (±0.46) 1.22 (±0.48) 1.24 (±0.49) 1.17 (±0.46) Number Born Alive 11.1 (±0.8) 11.3 (±0.8) 11.6 (±0.9) 11.8 (±0.9) 12.1 (±1.0) 12.3 (±0.9) Number Weaned 9.5 (±0.7) 9.7 (±0.7) 9.9 (±0.8) 10.0 (±0.7) 10.2 (±0.7) 10.3 (±0.7) Pre-weaning Mortality (%) 14.2 (±5.6) 14.2 (±5.5) 14.5 (±5.6) 14.6 (±5.8) 15.5 (±5.9) 15.5 (±5.7) Weaning Weight (lbs) 12.3 (±1.3) 12.4 (±1.3) 12.8 (±1.5) 13.0 (±1.4) 13.1 (±1.4) 13.2 (±1.6) Weaning Age (d) 19.5 (±1.7) 19.7 (±1.8) 20.5 (±2.0) 20.8 (±2.1) 20.9 (±2.5) 21.5 (±2.8) 4 Benchmarking Productivity The visual representation of the graphs clearly depicts the rate of change for a given indicator over time for the top 25%, overall average and bottom 25%; burgundy, black and blue respectively. These graphs show that there are some indicators that are changing at the similar rates for all three groups while other indicators are changing at different rates. For example, litter size averages have increased at almost the same rates for top 25%, overall average and bottom 25% groups. This suggests that a litter size limit has yet to be reached. On the other hand, the variation between the three groups in percent finisher mortality has substantially decreased over time. This could be the result of increased importance or focus placed on reducing mortality by owners, barn managers and barn workers as well as new vaccination developments. Moreover, most of the improvement in finishing mortality has come from producers with the highest mortality (bottom 25%). This trend also holds true for mortality in nursery facilities. Feed efficiency in the nursery has remained relatively unchanged for all three groups during this time and thus it may represent an opportunity for improvement for producers in the bottom 25%. The rates of change for total born, number born alive, pigs weaned and pre-weaning mortality are almost identical for the three groups. There is a marked difference between the top 25% and the bottom 25% in weaning weight. This is most likely driven by weaning age as weaning age is the primary factor that influences weaning weight and a similar pattern exists between the two measures. This information can also be used to predict future productivity for any given trait. For example, pigs per mated female per year typically increase by about 0.33 pigs per year. Given this information, producers can predict the number of pigs they are likely to produce five years from now. They may then use that information as they make decisions about, among other things, building design, animal flow, commodity purchase and health programs.

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7 Changes in Productivity due to Season The tables showing the changes in key productivity indicators for different seasons depict monthly effects relative to January production levels. The results of the analysis clearly show reduced productivity in all phases of production due to elevated summer temperatures. The highlights of this analysis are as follows. Market weight increased and finisher mortality decreased from 2007 to 2012 in both types of finishing facilities. Market weight was lowest in August for both finisher types and highest in December and November for conventional and wean-to-finish facilities, respectively. Mortality in conventional finishers was best for pigs marketed in November and poorest for pigs marketed in March. Mortality in wean-to-finish facilities was highest in for pigs marketed in July. There was less variation between months for wean-to-finish facilities compared to the variation between months for conventional finishers. Nursery mortality decreased and nursery exit weight increased from 2007 to Nursery mortality was best for pigs exiting the facility in September and poorest for pigs exiting in March. Exit weight was greatest in November and lowest in June. Feed conversion was poorest for pigs exiting in February and best for pigs exiting in June. Litter size increased by approximately 1 pig from 2007 to Pre-weaning mortality also increased. Pre-weaning mortality was greatest among litters weaned in February and lowest in litters weaned in May. Weaning weight was greatest among litters weaned in May and lowest in litters weaned in August. Number born alive was greatest among litters weaned in September and lowest among litters weaned in January. Seasonal Effect Estimates for Conventional Finisher Year Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Finishing Mortality (%) Finishing Weight (lbs) Avg. Daily Gain (lbs) Feed Conversion (feed/gain) Seasonal Effect Estimates for Nursery Year Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Nursery Mortality (%) Nursery Exit Wt. (lbs) Avg. Daily Gain (lbs) Feed Conversion (feed/gain)

8 Seasonal Effect Estimates for Sow Farms Year Feb. Mar. Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Pigs/Mated Sow/Yr Litters/Mated Sow/Yr Total Born Stillborn/Mummies Number Born Alive Pre-Weaning Mortality (%) Weaning Weight (lbs) Summary The results of this analysis of industry productivity indicate that pork producers have been successful in improving production efficiency across all phases of swine production. However, there are some production indicators that may warrant additional focus in the future. Changes have been made that increased the pounds of pork produced in a given time frame. This along with increased litter size has increased the throughput of the swine industry as a whole. The industry improvements over time can be attributed to better genetics, health, management, etc. The results from this analysis can used to determine what management practices can be improved and/or changed to ensure the optimal level of performance for each swine production stage. Knowing when production levels decrease seasonally allows producers and researchers to focus efforts on improving production practices during that time to maintain production levels and improve overall operation production and financial efficiency National Pork Board, Des Moines, IA USA. This message funded by America s Pork Producers and the Pork Checkoff.