Sow Lifetime Productivity: importance of monitoring in commercial pork production

Steve Pollmann, PhDPresident

Western Operations, Murphy-Brown LLC

Financial importance Definition Industry production trends Focus areas Commercial results Reasons for herd removal

Outline

Typical ◦Pigs per sow per year ◦Pre-weaning mortality

Preferred ◦Pigs weaned per mated female◦Wean pig cost◦Pigs per sow lifetime

Sow Key Metrics

Estimated Financial Impact of Change

Metric  Change Cost/cwt, $ Cost/pig, $ SFD Cost impact*

Feed: Corn and soybean meal $.25/bu; $20/ton $1.597 $4.39 $74.6M

Nursery mortality 1.0% $0.190 $0.52 $8.9M

Finishing mortality 1.0% $0.721 $1.98 $33.7M

Additional sale weight 1.0 lb $0.060 $0.17 $2.8M

Pigs weaned per sow farrowed 0.10 $0.150 $0.41 $7.0M   

*Assumes 17M pigs per year averaging 275 lbs; year’s average ingredient costs

Financial relationship:• 0.5 pig weaned per sow farrowed = 1.0% finishing

mortality• 1.0 pig weaned per sow farrowed = corn and SBM

increase of $.25/bu and $20/ton

Step-wise procedures usedComponents: R2= 0.97

◦Weaned pig cost ◦Finishing cost ◦Wean-to-market mortality ◦Pigs weaned per female farrowed

Most important components affecting cost per cwt

“The total number of quality pigs weaned during the productive lifetime of a female; from the time she becomes breeding eligible until she leaves the herd.”

---National Pork Board, 2010

Sow Lifetime Productivity (SLP) Definition

Gilt cost, $

per head

Avg No. parities

No. weaned /

litter farrowed

Pigs/ sow

lifetime

Breeding stock cost/

weaned pig

Difference

$350 3.5 10.5 36.75 $9.52 ----

$350 4.5 10.5 47.25 $7.40 $2.22

$400 4.5 10.5 47.25 $8.47 $1.05

Improving SLP decreases weaned pig cost potential

ItemBorn live per litter

Pre-Wean Mortality, %

Weanedper litter

Avg Company (3-mo rolling) 12.35 15.89 10.39

Top 25% (3-mo rolling) 12.16 12.80 10.60

Best of Class (Month) 13.73 5.74 11.55

Worst of Class (Month) 10.27 19.31 8.50

AgriStats – Sow Metrics (July 2012)

ItemPigs / Mated

Sow / Year

Litters / Mated

Sow / YearSow

Mortality, %

Weaned pig cost, $/head

Avg Company (3-mo rolling) 23.91 2.30 9.93 $33.87

Top 25% (3-mo rolling) 25.66 2.42 9.70 $26.61

Best of Class (Month) 29.08 2.55 3.97 $23.72

Worst of Class (Month) 19.73 2.08 16.77 $44.85

AgriStats – Sow Metrics (July 2012)

NPB Industry Productivity Project

Criterion 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Slope R2

Litters/Mated Sow/Year 2.31 2.34 2.34 2.35 2.34 2.34 0.004 0.39

Number Born Alive 10.77 10.92 11.11 11.33 11.61 11.83 0.217 0.99

Number Weaned 9.30 9.39 9.55 9.72 9.98 10.08 0.169 0.98

Preweaning Mortality (%) 13.68 14.08 14.03 14.15 14.03 14.75 0.152 0.67

Pigs/Mated sow/Year 21.50 21.94 22.37 22.87 23.40 23.63 0.444 0.99

Replacement Rate (%) 54.07 57.76 56.02 56.10 51.38 52.22 -0. 813

0.38

Sow Mortality (%) 11.18 10.67 10.43 10.26 9.81 10.39 -0.162 0.63

Gilt development methods Gilt selection and utilization rates Female retention (depletion of body

reserves) Improving number weaned per litter Improving farrowing rates (less non-

productive days and more litters/sow/year) Improving sow livability Minimizing seasonality

Areas that influence sow lifetime productivity (longevity and productivity)

Not routinely assessed or monitored Not commonly available on most sow record systems

Limited benchmarking availability Parity segregation system increase data collection accuracy and integrity

Challenges with Sow Lifetime Productivity

Sow Lifetime Productivity Nevada, MO

QR WR EN SV CN SG BS AH WP TH HE TM DW OE BC DV5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

60

65

70

75

80

66.064.1 63.9

60.959.2 59.1

57.0 56.955.2 55.1 54.0 53.8

52.3 51.6 50.4 50.2

% o

f p

lace

d g

ilts

havin

g t

hre

e

litt

ers

Data Collection from 1/5/2009 - 6/27/2010

16% range among sow farms 24% in longevity

% to P1 % to P2 (change)

% to P3 (change

)Top 3 avg 86.1 72.5

(13.6)64.7 (7.8)

Bottom 3 avg

73.6 58.8 (14.8)

50.7 (8.1)

Difference 12.5 13.7 14.0

Sow Lifetime ProductivityNevada, MO

>22 22.1-27.7

27.8-33.2

33.3-38.8

38.9-44.3

44.4-49.5

50.0-55.4

<55.50

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1

810

32

15

10 11

5

Western Operations:Sow Lifetime Productivity Distribution

N = 93 farmsMean = 33.9

SD = 11.4

OEWREN BS QR AH THDWCN BC SV SG HEWPDO TM0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

5045

40 3937 36 36 36 35 35 34 33 32

30 2927

24

MO Sow Lifetime Productivity Distribution (60k sows)

Sow Lifetime Productivity – UT and OK

2007 2008 2009 2010 201110

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

3236 35

39

44

f(x) = 2.55287886999998 x + 29.6581617500001R² = 0.896480314594332

SL Linear (SL)

2007 2008 2009 2010 201110

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

55

28

3437

33

41

f(x) = 2.46828161000004 x + 27.2001411099999R² = 0.65693559274698

TW Linear (TW)

Lifetime Productivity Distribution

a0-9

b10

-19

c20-

29

d30

-39

e40-

49

f50-

59

g60

-69

h70

-79

i80-

89

j90-

99

k100

-109

l110

-119

m12

0-12

9

n13

0-13

9

o14

0-14

9

p15

0-15

9

q16

0-16

9

s180

-189

-5.0%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

35.0%

28.4%

14.0%

9.6% 9.2% 8.9% 9.0% 8.4%6.1%

3.5%1.7% 0.7% 0.3% 0.1% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

%

fe-

male

s

42% of all females have 19 or fewer piglets

Pigs per sow lifetime

3.7% all prolapsed reasons

Total = 38,394 Entered but did not produce any pigs

Replacement Rate = 60%

34,500 more Pigs Weaned for FY12

Seasonal Effects on Weaned Pigs Weekly

8-12% reduction in weaned pigs due to summer breeds

~4k

~2-3k

• Sow lifetime productivity is not commonly monitored or benchmarked

• SLP variation is very high under commercial conditions

• Possible to improve SLP about 2.0-2.5 per year

• Greatest opportunity - improving retention of P0 and P1 females

• Improving SLP will lower weaned pig costs

Summary