This is a subscriber-only article
The Interpig international figures have just recently been finalised and published. The figures presented represent the performance for 2019 in each country.
The figures from Denmark, the Netherlands and Ireland are presented below. The Danes and the Dutch are the top-performing countries. The Irish figures represent 78,000 sows or 52% of the national herd as compiled on the Teagasc e-Profit Monitor record analysis system.
The figures comparing sow performance are shown below in Table 1.
The born alive figures in Ireland have improved over the last number of years to 14.1 pigs born alive per litter. The average born alive per litter was 17.5 in the Danish herd in 2019. While the Danes have higher pre-weaning mortality, the number of pigs born alive still gives them the highest number of pigs weaned per sow per year.
The number of pigs produced per sow is the number born alive minus all mortalities. It is a good parameter to use to compare performance. The post-weaning mortality figures and the number of pigs produced/sow/year are shown in Table 2.
Each country has a different liveweight at slaughter. It is highest in Netherlands (122.3 kg), lower in Denmark (114.8 kg) and lowest in Ireland (113.5 kg).
The Danes achieved the best average daily gain (ADG) from weaning to sale. These figures are shown in Table 3.
Our growth rates compare favourably to the Dutch but are lower than the Danes. Our feed conversion figures are similar to the Dutch and the Danes. We could take comfort from this but that is not the whole story.
The standardised growth rate and feed conversion, which is calculated to eliminate the effect of different transfer and sale weights, is as shown in Table 4.
Based on these figures, our growth rate is similar to the Dutch but our feed conversion is much higher (we use an extra 19kg of feed to produce a 120kg pig). Achieving the same feed conversion would reduce feed costs by at least 5c/kg of pigmeat.
The Dutch achieve a much better feed conversion in the finisher phase as shown in Table 4. They transfer their weaner pigs on to cheaper finisher diets at 25kg which is much lighter than the transfer weight in Ireland of 37.9 kg. Research carried out in Moorepark looking at varying levels of starter (Phase 1) and link (Phase 2) diets suggested the levels fed in Irish farms was excessive. Are we also over-feeding the weaner diet to our pigs here given that the Dutch can transfer their pigs on to finisher diets at 25kg? Should you introduce a “grower” or “high-density” finisher diet to replace the weaner diet once your pigs are over 25kg?
Feed price:
When we look at the feed prices in each country (Table 5), we see the Danes have the lowest feed cost per tonne.
Caution is advised here as the Danish farmers grow crops on lands they farm and this appears to contribute to reduced feed price. It seems much more sensible for us to benchmark our feed prices against the Dutch as they are operating solely as pig producers with no associated land that could reduce their feed costs.
Comparing the feed prices of the Dutch and Ireland shows a price differential of €15, €22 and €20/tonne better prices for sow, weaner/rearer and finisher diets respectively. This gives the Dutch a further 7 cent per kg pigmeat. There are a number of reasons for the price differential – credit terms, and transport being the main contributors to the higher feed prices in Ireland. These are areas that each pig producer should examine to see if there are savings to be made.
Take-home message
We must be able to compete with the Dutch and the Danes in pig performance and feed costs. The improved performance should lead to lower feed costs. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. How does your sow productivity and feed performance compare?
2. Can you reduce this feed cost differential?
3. Are you feeding the correct nutrients to your pigs at the correct stage of growth or are there further efficiencies to be made?
4. How closely do you work with your nutritionist, your Teagasc adviser and veterinary consultant to achieve similar performance as the Dutch and the Danes?
SHARING OPTIONS: