The piglet born live rate has risen steadily, with a 24% increase when 2017 is compared with 2000. The number of litters per sow per year has also improved steadily and this has contributed to the 26% increase in pigs produced per sow per year in 2017 relative to 2000.

The combined benefit of getting more pigs produced and the heavier weights at sale is shown in Table 3. The carcase weight sold per sow per year is 56% higher in 2017 compared with 2000. This is a substantial increase in performance mainly due to advances in animal genetics, nutrition, healthcare and overall management.

In 2000 it took 143 days from the time of weaning to reach the sale liveweight of 90.1kg. In 2017 it took 148 days after weaning to reach the sale weight of 110.8kg. The improved growth rate has driven output substantially. The sale of heavier pigs has increased the output and the extra requirement for five days’ extra accommodation in the finisher section does not reflect the extra accommodation required as a result of the increased number of pigs produced per sow per year.

You should check to see if the correct number of places is available on your farm. If you know you have insufficient places, should you consider reducing sow numbers to achieve the optimum sale weights for your farm. As pigs get heavier, they also require more floor area and again this should be checked on your farm.

Performance is forever changing and you need to ensure your farm is adapting to the changes. You must constantly assess your production model and adapt if you wish to optimise the profitability of the improvements, be they in genetics, nutrition or elsewhere. For example, it is now widely recognised that the performance of gilts in the farrowing house can determine the lifetime breeding performance in the herd. This means that gilts should be managed carefully and their data should be used to retain or cull them earlier to optimise the overall herd performance.

Conclusion

All farms need to measure their own performance and should not be afraid to benchmark their results against other producers. The pig industry operates largely as a cohesive unit, and internal comparison is to the benefit of all those who wish to improve the productive efficiency of their unit. Benchmarking helps drive Irish pigmeat production so that it will be competitive in the world market. Benchmark data must be used to make decisions for the future management of the farm to improve the overall operation – otherwise it is a futile exercise.

The statistics

Comparing your herd performance figures allows you to determine whether your unit is achieving good or poor results relative to national performance. The Teagasc ePM compiles a group report for the national pig herd each year. This article compares average performance on Irish pig units in the year 2000 with more recent years. The data in the national pig herd comprises the data from farms that have records within the Teagasc ePM system for each particular year. The data was from 141 farms (with an average of 400 sows per herd) in 2000, 98 farms in 2010 (average of 654 sows per herd) and 107 farms in 2017 (with an average sow herd of 729 sows).

Table 1 shows the average number of pigs produced per sow per year in Irish herds during 2000, 2010 and more recently in 2017.

Table 2 shows the performance based upon feed conversion of pigs from weaning to sale over the same years. There is an increase in live sale weight of 20.7kg over the 17-year period. The average daily gain from weaning to sale has improved by 124g per day over the same period. The poorer FCE from weaning to sale is not explained in these figures. It may be associated with the increase in sale weights, more feed wastage and perhaps poorer housing conditions on some of the poorer performing herds. The list of factors that may affect feed conversion efficiency is long and each farm must consider their own strengths and weaknesses in this regard.