STAYING COMPETITIVE How will you stay in business for the next year or the next decade? What follows are few facts and opinions. Small Operations ( 500 Sows) As hog facilities get bigger, the cost per sow comes down. Labor is more efficient. Now, instead of one person caring for 100 sows, that person can handle 200 or more. Pigs leave the bam by the truck load, allowing for all of the market flexibility permitted in a several hundred-mile radius. AU-in/a]l-out is standard from farrowing through finishing. And the people on the farm devote all of their time and energy to raising pigs speciali zation that pays dividends. Disadvantages include the fact that labor is almost all hired. Somehow, someway, the owner must challenge that hired labor to be as conscientious is he would. Also, large operations frequently generate odor complaints. With these sizes of enterprises in perspective, staying competitive and staying in business, it seems to me, comes down to three factors: image, marketing, and the day-to day routines. Image Manure is the major image issue. Nutrient management is now for real. We’re all beginning to appreciate it But we’re also rea lizing it’s easier on paper than it is in practice. Odor generates lots of problems with few solutions. We need objective ways to measure odor, and we desperately need methods of control. Until we’ve learned how to con trol odor, remember that perceived odor problems are always worse when farm appearance and opera tor cooperation falls short A final comment that may sound a bit sobering is that Pennsylvania is not a particularly good place to raise hogs. In addition to paying a lot for com, and not having the marketing advantage we had 20 years ago, we also have a lot of people encroaching on our farms in the southeast part of the state. Marketing First, are you providing the market with what it wants the right weight range and desirable amounts of fat and muscling? If not, remember that the market not only determines how much you make on each hog. The market also determines if you mkke anything on each hog. Once we get past the fat and muscle measurements, there is more to worry about. Pale, soft, and exudative (PSE) LancMtw miming, Saturday, April 9,1994-03 pak is a bubbling issue ready to boil. Most packers will tell you that PSE is already a big-time problem. Now, we’re poised to use (manage?) the stress gene to improve carcass measurements, perhaps at the expense of carcass quality since the stress gene is clearly related to PSE. Drug residues should not be a problem but they are at least enough that consumers think they are. Well, the National Pork Pro ducers Council has a Pork Quality Assurance program, in which pro ducers have no excuses for not par ticipating. Producers must under stand their herd health program, the use of drugs, and have a good relationship with their veterinarian or a professional familiar with the operation. With that accomplished, the producer can qualify for the high est level of certification (Level m). In Pennsylvania, out of sever al thousand producers, we have only about 100 on Level m. The viability of your market is perhaps something to lose sleep over. Where would you be, for example, if you lost the local buy ing station, the local sale bam, or your major buyer? If you happen to be in an area where there are sever al marketing alternatives, consider yourself lucky. • Sow productivity. Unlike feed costs or market hog prices, sow productivity is the one thing over which you have some control that also exerts a huge impact on profit In a 250-sow operation, increasing production by 1 pig per sow per year will add at least $lO,OOO in profit. • All-in/all-out. It’s important for pigs from birth to market weight Less disease, less feed, and less time to market • Artificial insemination. A piece of technology that’s been around for at least 20 years and is finally getting a grip on our indus try. It provides an opportunity to use quality, proven breeding stock, and can do wonders for uniformity. • Multiple site production. This is all-in/aU-out and then some. Far rowing at one location. Weaning (at an early age before diseases are transmitted from sow to pig) into a nursery at another location. And finishing at yet a third location. The improvement in performance, especially in a herd with respirat ory problems, is impressive. • Keeping the place full. Using our 250-sow farrow-to-finish herd as an example, farrowing nine lit ters per week, instead of 10 litters per week, will reduce profit at least $6,000/year. So operating even at 90 percent of capacity is bad news. • Don’t waste time. Have a sys tem and keep things on a schedule. Try to finish on job before you start another. Don’t create work for yourself in the most common tasks that often waste time moving hogs, pressure washing, farming several farms, and hauling manure. • Feed waste. We all know it’s expensive. It has much to do with feeder adjustment and a lot to do with feeder design. • Mange/parasites. Not much excuse any more for putting up with either of these problems. Even Ivomec is now available in feed-grade form for growing pigs. • Keeping pigs comfortable. Cold pigs are expensive pigs. • Don’t wean too early. Many times the solution to post-weaning (Turn to Pag* C 4) Day-To-Day The Big Items Day-To-Day The Small Items