Managing Weight Variation
We all know marketing pigs is based on a population, not an individual pig. But that doesn’t mean you can avoid the focus on optimal pig weight. While there is a large pool of potentially producer-influenced factors to reach optimal weights — genetic selection, space availability, marketing executions, health management and seasonal control — optimal weight is truly determined by three factors: market price, feed costs and your packer grid, all of which are often out of the producer’s control. So what’s the most logical way to manage reaching optimal weight?
Addressing Variation
The first step in reaching optimal weight is to manage variation. Variation within the population begins at birth. Accepting this as a given, variation can be addressed in two ways: reduction and management.1 When variability in a population is high, the focus should be on reduction. If variability is low, management is key. Throughout production, steps can be taken to minimize external variation-causing factors by either controlling or mitigating influences. Health management, access to feed and water and proper ventilation are all items that you can control in advance (management) or alter when negative results are visible (reduction).
“Health is often thought of in an all or nothing discussion. We keep them alive or we accept a certain mortality percentage. Realistically, health is impactful on profitability, not in just how many make it to the packer, but how much variation is caused due to health challenges along the way,” Dr. Yoder added.
Yoder continued, “Maintaining optimal herd health will help pigs maintain a consistent growth curve and feed efficiency — enabling more predictable marketing groups to be made.” Outside of health, ensuring pigs are receiving adequate and consistent access to feed and water can help reduce variation within pens.
Impact of Variation at the Packer
Marketing pigs has always been tied to a target weight. But in reality, marketing is also balancing feed costs and market prices. Deciding when to market groups of pigs, where to make those cuts or when to move out a whole group can have considerable impact on premiums. Minimizing variation within this population can decrease sort losses.1 The goal is to maximize the premium by thinking about margin over feed — for this, growth curve and feed intake come into consideration. If pigs are too light but feed costs are low, a producer can move these pigs to a different market group. If their growth curve does not show they will reach optimal weight, sending them to market with the first group may be beneficial to lessen input costs going into additional feed that may not impact enough growth to reach the premium.
“Suboptimizing your top marketing group, or taking out those pigs slightly lighter after the first group to get the extra space could actually help you make more money on the subsequent groups. If you take 10% to 15% of the pigs out of the barn in the first group at 5 to 10 pounds lighter than overall optimal marketing weight, the compensatory gain on the remaining 85% to 90% of pigs will offset the reduced weight on that top group. You can suboptimize that top group and be more profitable due to the compensatory gain on subsequent animals.” Yoder recommends that no matter what marketing groups are selected, a producer should remain consistent:
● Pull the same amount of pigs out of every pen
● Maintain a similar approach to weight estimating
Consistency in marketing strategy impacts premiums at the packer not only due to weight variation, but also carcass cutout value. Increased variation impacts retail pork product dimensions, which can reduce the packer cutout values.2 A cutout value of a carcass is based on the number of cuts produced by the carcass as well as the price of those cuts.3 By better understanding the packer’s pricing distribution, producers can plan accordingly with their marketing groups in the barns.
Managing Variation with Productivity Products
Making operational choices to reduce weight variation can help target a more profitable harvest weight for the entire program. This can be addressed by making nutritional changes that improve feed utilization and, ultimately, maximize return.4 Selecting productivity products that influence feed conversion and daily gain can favorably impact weight variation and maximize the output of a population of pigs. Dr. Roger Arentson, Elanco associate technical advisor and nutritionist, has seen market swings that impact producer choices to use, and not use, productivity products.
Dr. Arentson recommends that evaluations of productivity solutions include its effects on growth rate, feed efficiency and carcass yield and should provide net value in both fixed-time and fixed-weight scenarios. Choices to consider are energy level of the diet and making sure amino acids are in the correct proportion and quantity to increase average daily gain. Products such as Skycis® that increase growth rate, feed efficiency and ultimately carcass yield, and have some effect on variation should be considered.
“Most producers consider first marketing groups from a barn to be valued using a fixed-weight scenario with the remaining pigs marketed as fixed-time with grow rate being more important. But in the summertime, producers typically want all pigs to grow faster to take advantage of normally higher summer market prices, essentially maximizing margin over feed.”
“Generally in the summertime, feed costs tend to be higher as well as lean hog market prices,” Dr. Arentson concluded. “So in those scenarios, producers strategize how they can get their pigs to grow faster. And especially with higher feed costs, making choices in order to have as many pounds as fast as you can is a goal. Choosing the right marketing strategy alongside the right nutritional strategy is key to meet that goal.”
1National Hog Farmer. Variation: You Can Manage It, But You Can’t Avoid It. Available at: https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/health-diseases/0415-manage-cannot-avoid. Accessed April 26, 2021.
2National Hog Farmer. Analyzing the relationship between pig body weight and variation. Available at: https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/agenda/analyzing-relationship-between-pig-body-weight-and-variation. Accessed April 26, 2021.
3United State Department of Agriculture. A User’s Guide to USDA’s Pork Carcass Cutout. Available at: https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/LMRPorkCutoutHandout.pdf. Accessed April 26, 2021.
4Macrotrends. Corn Prices - 59 Year Historical Chart. Available at: https://www.macrotrends.net/2532/corn-prices-historical-chart-data. Accessed 2019.
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