How to Reduce Pig Cost of Production

Let’s face it: raising profitable pigs is hard work. Optimizing your bottom line while staying competitive is a challenge on its own, but add fluctuating feed costs, new regulations and an unpredictable market to the mix and the task can feel daunting. In addition, supply chain disruptions have further exacerbated the need for producers to minimize losses, with many hoping to just break-even to keep their farms afloat. Whether we are in challenging or prosperous times, lowering the cost of production is important because every pig producer is looking for ways to maintain their farm’s profitability and ensure their farms’ future for years to come. Three strategies for reducing your pig cost of production Feed costs represent the biggest input for producers, often accounting for up to 70% of production costs. It is imperative for pig producers to adapt their feed strategy to maximize feed efficiency. Here are three ways to reduce production costs without impacting your herd’s performance.

1. Reducing feed costs for pigs

The pressure to reduce feed costs and the continuous effort to gain a better understanding of available feed ingredients are the biggest challenges the livestock industry currently faces. Around 25% of the available nutrients in feed ingredients cannot be fully utilized by the animal due to anti-nutritional factors in feed. Keeping that in mind, producers around the world are making a concerted effort to lower the cost of production and maximize feed efficiency based on nutritional and economic factors (which often vary) while maintaining animal welfare and using sustainable approaches to meet demands. Pig producers look to increase feed digestibility as a means of managing the short-term risks associated with reduced market prices. Increasing feed digestibility helps:

• Make more nutrients available for the pig to absorb.
• Improve performance, allowing producers to send animals to market faster.
• Lower feed costs.

Nutritional feed enzyme technologies, such as PEVAZYM, have been used for different applications that range from soy sauce to the enzymatic digestion of feedstuffs. PEVAZYM’s unique enzyme complex promotes cost-efficiency by maximizing the diet’s potential at every stage of growth. Developed through solid state fermentation (SSF), PEVAZYM’s multi-enzymatic solution works in synergy with the complete swine diet, optimizing nutrients — including amino acids, energy, calcium and phosphorus — while enhancing the use of raw materials

2. Improving pig efficiency, starting with the sow

In recent years, genetics have played a major role in improving sow efficiency by increasing the number of pigs produced per sow per year. As litter size increases, piglet birth weight decreases and litter variability increases. Low birth weight is a major predisposing factor for pre-weaning mortality

3. Improving water consumption

Is the water your pigs drink impacting their performance and productivity, thereby adding to your production costs? A pig’s water consumption is just as important as their feed intake because pigs that do not drink enough water won’t consume enough feed. Pigs tend to drink around 10% of their body weight per day, or roughly two times the amount of feed they eat. Keeping the pH in a lower range for a longer period reduces the conditions that allow harmful bacteria to grow and flourish. Adding acidifiers, such as PEVACID®, to drinking water is an effective approach to acidification, especially when intake is low or variable, because it:

• Reduces water pH and keeps it in a more favorable range (<5 pH).
• Sweetens the taste of water, helping young pigs more inclined to readily drink water.
• Improves water intake, which, in turn, improves the pig’s ability to digest feed.
• Leads to better enzymatic activity.