Living through the volatility of feed prices over the last two years has heightened producers' awareness of the need for continual improvement in the efficiency of feed use.

Efficient use of feed means different things to different people. Nutritionists consider dietary energy levels, particle size and feed processing.

Swine veterinarians may think about the impact of disease and health status.

Producers in the barn may think about feeder adjustment, impacts of weaning age or productivity levels.

Geneticists may consider sire lines and the contribution of the sow to whole herd feed efficiency.

Accountants may be focused on the dollars and cents.

As farm owners, all of these factors must be considered to reach the overall goal of more efficiently using a resource that is much more valuable today than just a few short years ago — feed.

Of course, decisions on optimal diets and the impact of the diet on feed efficiency cannot be made in a vacuum. The profitability of the entire production system must be considered.

When feed prices are high and alternative ingredients are available, the most profitable decision for some production systems may be to reduce the energy level, which will reduce growth rate and increase days to market. This scenario was rarely the best option in past years, because finishing space was not available to make reducing growth rate a profitable decision.

However, a reduction in the U.S. swine herd, coupled with an increase in finishing barn availability, will make this the most profitable option for some production systems. These changes make benchmarking and comparing feed efficiency from one production system to another very difficult. A clear understanding of all of the drivers of profitability is required to truly determine whether a system is using their feed resources efficiently.

Measuring Efficiency of Feed Use

In order to make improvements, we have to know what to measure. When discussing feed efficiency, we naturally think about closeout feed efficiency for a group of pigs, where we have accounted for the pounds of feed delivered to a group of pigs. The pounds delivered includes all feed consumed or wasted by the pigs.

Traditionally, the other half of the equation is the weight gain of the pig, which is simply the weight of pigs at the end of the feeding period minus the weight at the beginning of the period. Closeout feed efficiency is a good place to start and, when the subject of focus, has led many production systems to continual improvement over time.

When most diets were corn-soybean meal-based, this traditional method of measuring feed efficiency was probably sufficient. However, the introduction of other ingredients to swine diets can greatly impact the energy value of the diet and, potentially, the yield of the pigs. Thus, for future measurements, we will need to change the numerator of the equation from feed to the amount of “energy that was delivered to the pigs.” Similarly, the denominator may need to change from total weight gained to “pounds of carcass weight gained” (see Figure 1).

There are many different ways to measure the energy density of a diet, which are covered in detail by John Patience of Iowa State University, on page 10 in this Blueprint.

Feed efficiency for a group of nursery or finishing pigs is often more easily measured and tracked than trying to measure and monitor whole herd feed use. To truly improve the efficiency of all feed used on the swine farm, a clear accounting of sow gestation, lactation and gilt developer feed must also take place.

Tracking use and cost of these feed categories on a per-sow, per-marketed pig, and per-pound-of-carcass weight basis will allow for continual improvement and illustrate the importance of sow productivity in reducing the impact of these feed costs on the cost burden carried by each pig marketed.

Factors Influencing Efficient Feed Use

Any factor that influences the numerator (feed or calories) or denominator (weight produced) in the efficiency equation is important to consider when trying to improve the efficiency of feed use.

Genetics

Sire and dam genetics have a major impact on efficiency of feed use. Genetics determine the upper limit for the pigs' potential to convert calories into carcass lean. Genetics can also dictate the pigs produced per sow per year, which profoundly impacts whole herd feed conversion. The genetic contribution to the efficient use of feed is discussed by Jim Schneider beginning on page 22 of this Blueprint edition.

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