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November/December Brood Sow 2007 Issue
No one said it was easy
by Darrell Anderson
As we near the end of 2007, we should count our blessings about swine production and agriculture in general.
All things considered, it’s been a pretty good year. We’ve had many consecutive months of profitability for the hog sector, and my friends who capitalized on the current soybean and corn prices with high yields are smiling from ear to ear.
Unfortunately, as is generally the case, what is good for one sector causes some problems for others. The increase in the cost of feed inputs – especially corn, and to a somewhat lesser degree, soybean meal – is causing problems for pork producers, not only in this country, but also around the globe.
I recently was shocked to read the following news from England in a newsletter from www.ThePigSite.com:
“Over 90 percent of the British pig breeding herd could disappear in the next 12 months.”
The article went on to describe a recent survey of British pig producers in which they were asked, “How long do you think you can go on producing pigs if the price you receive does not improve?” Thirty-five percent said between one and three months; 31 percent said up to six months; and 26 percent said six months to a year. In addition, 41 percent of respondents said they are paying more than 50 percent more for their feed, compared to last year.
The same story can be told in many countries around the world. Mike Telford, the NSR’s contracted director of international marketing, says the price of feed is the major problem facing the swine industry in every country he’s visited in recent weeks.
Of course, I have to wonder how much damage the animal-welfare movement has done to erode the profitability of pork production in these countries. I’m afraid that wave of destruction is headed our way, as well.
In this country, if you couple feed costs with the incredibly high number of hogs harvested each week, you have the recipe for disaster.
Hog slaughter has been setting records and is consistently higher than expected, based on the USDA’s quarterly inventory of market hogs. Much credit is being given to the availability of the circovirus vaccine, which is causing a drop in death loss and an increase in slaughter weights, as pigs are gaining better because of the vaccine.
With all of these factors staring us in the face, there is one issue that should surface for all producers. Regardless of size or country of origin – record keeping and selecting outstanding genetics will pay bigger dividends during these times than ever before. If there ever was a time to put selection pressure on economically significant production traits, it is now!
With this being the Seedstock EDGE Brood Sow Issue, we should recognize that one of the most significant traits we measure and record is the number born alive (NBA) in each litter.
If you could only measure and select for one trait, perhaps NBA should be the one. It doesn’t matter much how fast they grow or how heavy muscled they are – they must be born first. This has always been a controversial subject in the calculation of the sow productivity index (SPI), but I am more convinced than ever that NBA is worth every penny we assign to it in the calculations of SPI and maternal line index (MLI).
In light of higher production costs, the other obvious trait that needs attention in all breeds is growth rate. We have an excellent data set in STAGES for identifying many top lines for days to 250 lbs. (Days), and we simply need more folks utilizing this data.
There is a high correlation between growth rate and feed efficiency. With high input costs, these highly economically significant traits will receive more attention.
So, yes, there are some challenges facing us in the coming months. But, we have always been known for our resiliency and persistent attitude.
I know each of you is committed to making the best hogs possible for our industry, and I want to encourage you to use all tools available to accomplish that task.
One of my favorite quotes by Robert H. Shuller applies to the situation at hand:
“Today’s accomplishments were yesterday’s impossibilities.”
Mama never said it would be easy. But by working together and using all of the genetic tools available to us today, we can and will succeed!
