With all of the data available at a producer’s fingertips, no one can argue it can be overwhelming. Brad Eckberg, business analyst at MetaFarms Inc., says their system tracks over 500 metrics. With all of that information on hand, what are the key metrics people should look at on a periodic basis?
Eckberg shares the key metrics he encourages producers to pay attention to on the farm.
• Cumulative Pigs Weaned
Definition: Sum total of wean piglets that transition into the grow finish phase of production.
Why it matters: The main goal of sow farm production is producing as many healthy and viable wean piglets as possible, Eckberg points out.
“Cumulative pigs weaned helps us answer these important questions: What is our breed target? Are we meeting breed targets? And, then how are we tracking that from a database perspective?” Eckberg says.
Each sow farm has a targeted number that is based on multiple factors including: sow inventory, wean age and capacity availability in grow-finish sites. There can be harmful outcomes when this total is either short or long of the targeted goal, he adds.
• Stillborns
Definition: A piglet that is born dead or dies shortly after birth. This can occur due to various reasons, including complications during the birthing process, genetic defects, or health issues of the mother.
Why it matters: “Stillborns have a direct impact of the piglets weaned. On a daily basis, a farm should be tracking the number and percentage of stillborns. If you know more sows are coming up due to farrow, plan to have more staff on hand to monitor farrowings and day one care. The best operations prioritize labor by identifying those core fundamentals of a highly productive farm,” Ekberg says.
• Non-Productive Days
Definition: A term that is focused on when a gestating animal is identified to be no longer pregnant, usually after 35 days post conception.
Why it matters: “It’s important to pay attention to late-term fallouts because of the economic impact each female has on a farm,” Eckberg explains. “Every day an animal is not productive (not gestating or lactating piglets) costs the farm due to costs in feed consumed, building costs and more.”
He says it’s important to understand when and why an animal falls out of a breed group. Reasons for late fallouts can include health issues, barn ventilation/environment, improper heat detection and more.
“Farms with high non-productive days often see animals that were not properly bred or pregnancy checked and found to be open as late as when that animal was due to farrow,” he says. “This core metric is something that every farm can improve with the right training and focus to detail.”
• Sow Death Loss
Definition: When an animal is removed from the sow farm due to a death or euthanasia.
Why it matters: “When it comes sow death loss, it’s important to know who, when and why. Who helps determine the status and parity of the animal at time of death. When is the animal dying – at time of farrowing? Mid- to late-gestation? The why is equally important,” Eckberg says. “Without understanding why animals are dying, how do we know how to save that animal? Proper documentation along with necropsies can be useful tools for all aspects of pig production.”
• Individual Sow and Piglet Treatments
Definition: A medication intervention derived from a needle injection.
Why it matters: “Keep track of how many individual sow and piglet treatments are occurring. The more efficient way of properly treating an animal is not through water or feed interventions because a sick animal will not eat or drink. The best method of treatment is by way of injection. Understanding why an animal is sick and utilizing your veterinarian-driven standard operating procedures will have the best outcome for the animal. A simple yet powerful message to any caretaker should be to see every pig, every day.”
• Grow-Finish Mortality
Definition: A death loss that occurs post sow farms in a nursery, finish, or wean-to-finish site.
Why it matters: “Monitoring and tracking deaths losses across your farms is an absolute must,” he says. “It is important not only know which sites are losing pigs and how many, but it is also important to understand why the losses are occurring. Are the losses coming from general-population pigs? Are those hospital-treated pigs?”
Eckberg says necropsy of dead animals is something that not only a veterinarian can do but service staff and caretakers can be trained to identify easily identified health issues, too. By doing so, along with the proper standard operating procedures, interventions may begin to slow or stop future losses, he adds.
• Water Usage Monitoring
Definition: Consumption of water for a pig, usually monitored by daily usage in gallons per animal.
Why it matters: “Did you know that the first sign that a pig is sick is when it stops drinking? Furthermore, this sign can be identified within 24 to 48 hours of clinical signs. Monitoring daily water consumption and comparing that to the most current consumption can spur faster action by the caretaker,” Eckberg says. “Today there are many sites with barn controllers that will not only collect the consumption, but will send out an alert to notify the appropriate individuals of a possible issue.”
• Marketing Full Value Pigs
Definition: Capturing the most pigs in the primary weight range for harvest.
Why it matters: “For pork producers that sell to a packer, the main goal is to sell as many pigs possible at the right weight range. This may seem pretty simple at first, but there can be several challenges,” Eckberg notes.
First, understand the optimal weight range is for your packer. Some packers like to have a target live weight range of 260 pounds, while others may want 290 pounds. Also, carcasses that are too light or too heavy can have a sort loss or financial penalty. At times, this penalty can be quite drastic, he says.
“Marketing a group of pigs can usually run three or more weeks depending on when that space is needed for the next group of pigs,” he says. “The urgency of identifying the right pigs to sell at the right weight is truly an art for all involved. There are tools to help identifying a pig weight from girth measurements and predictive software models to a combination of days on feed with cumulative feed consumed per head. Many dollars can be made and lost on marketing. This should be one of the most important and frequent focus points for producers.”
Read More:
Sow Death Loss Reaches All-Time High in 2023: What Can Producers Do Now?
The Superpower the Industry Needs on Swine Farms Now
Keep Your Eyes Open: Ways to Reduce Wean-to-Finish Mortality
