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There is deep despair in the pig industry today at the failure of all the other players in the sector to realise how deep a crisis we are in. It is now the worst crisis since 1998 and we all remember how harrowing that was.
The only positive is that pig performance on most units is exceptional with excellent growths and daily gains.
However, farmers are no longer selling at the desired weight or age of the animals; we are now instead selling for cashflow which is a dangerous situation to find ourselves in. With a breakeven of 155c/kg and a price of 138c/kg in the major slaughter plants, on average we are losing over €15/pig.
Pig slurry is a very valuable fertiliser with 1,000 gallons equivalent to a 50kg bag of 19:7:20 which has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of artificial fertiliser
On my own farm year-on-year, the performance of the unit is improving.
We are up 10g/day in daily gain combined with an improvement in FCE. Performance has lifted since the introduction of a new vaccine programme which was implemented in late 2017. Pig slurry has started to move too. Pig slurry is a very valuable fertiliser with 1,000 gallons equivalent to a 50kg bag of 19:7:20 which has the potential to significantly reduce the cost of artificial fertiliser.
Going forward, I can see an awful lot of sows being sold. The reason they are not being sold at the moment is price with the average price of a sow currently between €70 and €80 a head.
When are we going to realise that the most sustainable method of producing meat is the Irish model?
Having been at the IFA AGM last month, it is very depressing to note that there doesn’t seem to be a margin in any meat produce aside from sheep meat at present. This is not sustainable in the long run.
To produce 1kg of meat in Brazil is four times the carbon footprint of producing the equivalent product in Ireland. When are we going to realise that the most sustainable method of producing meat is the Irish model? Hopefully by the time I write my next article the corner will have been turned and we will be looking at a more positive outlook for all meat producers.
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