Teagasc director Frank O’Mara has called on pig farmers not to remain focused on technical efficiency as their sector undergoes another spell of loss-making.
“For the pig sector, 2026 won’t go down as a stellar year. It’s been a pretty tough year really,” O’Mara said at Teagasc’s national pig conference in Cavan last week.
“We have prices somewhere around €1.68/kg of dead weight and it was this time last year that we were at the start of the decline in pig prices,” he commented, referencing a downward swing of around 40c/kg over 12 months.
“Overall, if you look at the price of pigs and the price of feed, we are in a loss-making situation at present, and probably somewhere between €11 and €15 per pig.”
O’Mara said management gains have raised the average number of pigs produced per sow per year to 28.4 in 2025, from 21.5 in 2000, and finishing deadweights increased 30kg.
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