Lesson 2 SWINE FARM RECORDING
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this chapter, you should be able to:
Create farm records based on collected data and different parameters;
Plan the production path of the farm; and
Assess the profitability of the swine farm.
Accurate recording of data is an important requirement for success in any business. It shows
many faces and aspects of the farm. It shows that the inputs are properly managed and outputs
are efficiently made. Keeping farm records allows the swine farmer to monitor the progress and
development of the farm, starting from the farm's history, inventory, and health program
schedules, to production statistics and sales.
In terms of implementing the herd health program of swine, keeping a farm record helps the
farmer monitor the health condition of each swine and what programs should be instituted next.
It also reminds the swine farmer to follow and stick to the health program strictly.
Stock and Supplies Inventory
WORD BANK
inventory - an itemized list of current assets such as a catalog of property and a list of goods on
hand
stock - the supply of goods available for sale or use; inventory of goods of a business or
manufacturer
Keeping a farm record starts with creating an accurate inventory. Your inventory should begin
with a record of existing stocks: How many of your herd are boars, sows, gilts, sucklings,
weanlings, and finishers? Your inventory should also include important data about your stocks.
For example, date of acquisition of pigs, sources of the animals, and age. Feeds, animal health
supplies, equipment, infrastructure, and office and communication supplies should also be
included to your inventory.
Overall, the inventory of the following items should be regularly made and updated by
concerned farm personnel and checked by the farm supervisor or manager:
Stocks - number of boars (including junior boars), sows, gilts (served and unserved),
sucklings, weanlings, and finishers. It would be easy to get the total number of each animal
type if data from each pen and house or building are provided. A monthly-updated stock list
or stock card as shown below is a useful tool in quickly assessing the total stock inventory.
Table 1. Stock inventory
Period Number of
Pigs on the
first day of the
month
Sows Served gilts Rearing gilts Boars + Jr Piglets
boars
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Feed and Animal Health Supplies and Equipment - amount or number of feeds or feed
ingredients, drugs, vaccines, supplements (vitamins, iron dextran, etc), syringes, needles,
gloves, ear tags, blades or scalpels, (artificial insemination materials, reagents, bottles, etc),
and diagnostic tools (microscopes and slides or coverslips, etc), among others.
Date Feeders Other Feed
Products
Breeders Piglets, Growers Qty (kg) Price
Qty (kg) Price
Beginning
Balance
Total
Ending Bal.
Consumed
Office and Communication Supplies - record forms or books, papers, - pens, computer,
printer, and phones
Type of Supply Quantity Remarks
Infrastructure - the number and condition of buildings and fixtures pens, (waterer, feeder,
water spray, ventilation system, lighting, etc.), refrigerator for drugs or biologicals, etc.
Building No. ______ Condition Remarks
Building part/type of fixture
Performance Records and Production Efficiency
You should create a record of the performance and production efficiency of your stocks. This
record consists of information about the capability and efficiency of your animals to reproduce.
Remember that the higher the reproductive performance of your animals, the higher the would-
be profit of your swine farm.
The performance and production record of your stocks lets you evaluate the capability of each of
your animal in terms of efficiency, number of parity, litter size per parity, feed conversion ratios,
and morbidity and mortality rates. The performance and production record also serves as a basis
on what animal will be kept and what animal will be culled in the future.
WORD BANK
runt -the smallest of a litter of pig; an unusually small animal for its kind
Sow-Weaner Operation
Boar Breeding Efficiency
Number of services needed to make a sow or gilt pregnant
Farrowing Rate the number of successful pregnancy among the total number of gilts or sows
served. This should be at least 80%.
Number of services made by each boar per week
These data, as well as other performance indicators to be discussed, can be derived from a
schedule of breeding, farrowing, and weaning for each sow as shown below:
Sows Breeding Farrowing Weaning
Date Boar Due Actual BN SB Date No.
Sow performance
Litter index (LI)
- The number of farrowings per sow per year, computed as:
Litter index = 365 days
_________
Production cycle
- For example, if a sow had a total production cycle of 151 days (7 days dry period
+ 114 days pregnancy + 30 days lactation), the sow's litter index will be (LI)
365/151 = 2.42
- The ideal litter index (also referred to as farrowing index or sow index) is 2.35.
This means a sow should have five farrowings in a little of more than two years.
Number of parity
- This is the number of times a sow can be pregnant and farrow in its lifetime. This
is one of the most important measures of a sow's reproductive efficiency.
- The best performance of a sow, in terms of number of piglets born and piglet size
uniformity, is during the third to fifth parity.
- Before that, there is a less number of piglets and less uniformity, while at the sixth
to seventh parity, there could be more piglets but also less piglet size uniformity.
- More runts and stillborn are born as the sow gets older, and it also becomes less
caring to its piglets, leading to more incidents of injuries and death due to
crushing.
Litter size and birth weight
- Litter size refers to the number of piglets born per parity. The ideal number of
piglets born alive per farrowing is at least 9.5 piglets.
- The ideal birthweight is 1.5 kg per piglet.
Number of lost days
- The period in which the sow is neither pregnant nor lactating nor in the normal
dry period (seven days). These are the days when the sow is not considered
economically productive, meaning the sow is consuming feeds but not
contributing profitably to the farm.
- These are the days in excess of the ideal 151 days of production cycle. During this
period, the sow could be a late breeder or repeater, or may already be barren.
- Factors that affect lost days are culling, housing, breeding, and overall
management.
Let us try to compute the number of lost days of a sow that has a litter index of 1.9:
Production cycle = 365/1.9 192.11 days Last days 192.11-151 41 days
e. Number of piglets sold (or weaned) per sow per year (PSSY)
- This is the most important indicator of success in a sow-weaner operation. Example:
PSSY = (litters per year or L.I.) x (weaned piglets/litter)
FSSY = 2.35 x 11 piglets/litter = 26 piglets
- The PSSY cannot be computed without the following data per sow: litter index,
number of piglets born alive (total minus stillbirch), pre-weaning mortality.
- The ideal PSSY is at least 18.5 pigs.
- The ideal number of piglets weaned per litter is at least 8.5 piglets. The ideal
weaning weight is at least 8.5 kg.
Fattener Operation
Average Daily Gain (ADG)
- It is the average increase in live weight every day throughout the fattening period.
- It uses the formula:
ADG = total gain in weight/total fattening days
Total gain in weight = End weight - Starting weight
- The ideal ADG is 550-600 grams per day.
Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR)
- This is the amount of feed needed to obtain 1 kg weight per pig.
FCR = total kg feeds / total kg gain in weight
Average Feed Consumption/Pig/Day (AFCPD)
- This indicates the feeding level of the pigs. The average feed consumption in
restricted feeding is 1.7-2 kg/pig/day, and 1.9-2.1 kg/pig/day for ad libitum
feeding.
AFCPD = total feed consumed/total fattening days
Morbidity and Mortality
Mortality indicates the number of dead pigs while morbidity is for the number of sick pigs.
Morbidity and mortality rates are computed as the number of sick or dead animals over total pig
population multiplied by 100.
Morbidity rate = (total number of sick/total number of animals) × 100
Mortality rate = (total number of dead/total number of animals) x 100
Each pen and house or building must have its own morbidity and mortality records. All
personnel who have contact with pigs must immediately report any sign of sickness, especially
any occurrence of death among the pigs assigned to him or her.
The farm veterinarian or supervisor or manager often does the preliminary diagnosis and
collection of samples for laboratory confirmatory diagnosis. Morbidity records may simply be
incident reports describing the signs observed. It include initial observations by any personnel
and the veterinary and may laboratory reports. In case of mortality, there are often case reports
and necropsy reports that are made by the farm veterinarian.
Financial Recording and Financial Viability
Attainment of good production parameters or ideal performance indicators is not enough to
ensure financial gain. Performance indicators should also be backed by accurate financial records
to check whether a swine farm is earning or not. Details about assets and liabilities, expenses,
sales, and income must be shown in the financial record. The overall total cost of production
must be known and compared with the gross income from the sale of weaners or fatteners and
other products sold by the farm. Accurate recording of cost of every input is important, as well as
the cost of losses in the farm. Simply, financial records allow the owner or supervisor to assess
the financial status of the swine farm.
Cost is the actual current value of inputs used, including cash costs (purchase of weaners, feeds,
drugs, salaries, wages) and non-cash costs (depreciation cost of buildings, equipment and tools,
or opportunity cost of labor).
WORD BANK
depreciation - the reduction in the value of an asset (such as equipment) because of the passage
of time and wear and tear
Feed Costs and Feed Profit
• Average Feed Cost/Pig/Day - applicable to any type of operation
- (Total cost of feed)/ (Total number of days)
• Feed Costs During Lost Days in Sow
- (No. of lost days) x (kg feed consumed/day) x (amount of feed/kg)
• Feed Cost/Kg Weight Gain
- Total feed cost / total gain in weight
• Feed Profit
- (Income from sales of weaners or fatteners) - (total cost of production)
Where:
Total cost of production (fattener operation)
= total cost of weaners + feeds + delivery costs
• Feed Profit per Pig
- feed profit/ total number of marketed pigs
Non-Cash Costs
Opportunity Cost of Labor
• (hours devoted to the farm by family) x (Existing wage rate)
Where:
Man-hours (No. of family members) x (Average no. of hours per day)
Existing wage rate = wage rate per day/No. of working hours per day
Example:
If 3 family members devote an average of 2 hours per day to the farm, with 8 working hours in
the farm per day, and the existing wage rate is P300/day:
Total opportunity cost of labor
=(3 x 2 hrs) x (5300/day)/8 hrs
=(6 man-hours) x (537.5 wage/hr)
=225 pesos per day
If we multiply this by 365, then there is a total labor cost of 82,125 pesos per year.
Annual Depreciation Cost
The total cost of new buildings, vehicles, equipment, machines, tools, and other inputs with long
lifespan should not be listed only on the year of their acquisition. The total acquisition cost is
subtracted with the salvage or scrap value (value after useful years) and divided by the lifespan
or total number of useful years.
Annual Depreciation Cost = (Acquisition cost) (Scrap value)
_________________________
Number of useful years
Example:
A certain machine with 10,000 acquisition cost, 1,000 salvage value. and 5 years lifespan has an
annual depreciation cost of:
ADC (10,000 - 1,000)/5 years
= 9,000/ 5 yrs
= 1,800/yr
This means the value of the machine decreases by $1,800 per year, and that the value after 5
years is 1,000.
Cost-and-Return Analysis
Profitability is known by cost-and-return analysis. It is considered in production planning and in
the adoption of new technologies that may entail big costs.
Net Income
It is the total profit or excess of income minus the total cost of production (cash and non-cash
costs).
Net Income = Total income - Total costs
Return on Investment (ROI)
It is the ratio of income to investment (sum of fixed capital and operating costs)
ROI = (Net Income/Investment) x 100
Chapter Summary
• The stock and supplies inventory has four major elements: stocks, feed and animal health
supplies and equipment, office supplies, and infrastructure.
• To compute the boar breeding efficiency, one should take note of the following factors:
✓ number of services needed to make a sow or gilt pregnant; ✓ farrowing rate; and
✓ number of services made by each boar per week • To measure the sow's farrowing
performance, one should take note of the following factors:
✓ number of farrowings per sow per year,
number of parity,
✓ litter size and birth weight,
number of lost days; and
✓ number of piglets sold (or weaned) per sow per year (PSSY),
• The number of parity is the number of times a sow can be pregnant and farrow in her lifetime.
This is one of the most important measures of a sow's reproductive efficiency.
• The number of lost days is the period in which the sow is neither pregnant, nor lactating nor in
the normal dry period.
• The average daily gain (ADG) is the average increase in live weight every day throughout the
fattening period.
• The feed conversion ratio (FCR) indicates the amount of feed needed to obtain 1 kg weight per
pig.
• The average feed consumption/pig/day (AFCPD) indicates the feeding level of the pigs.
AFCPD = total feed consumed/total fattening days
• Mortality indicates the number of dead pigs while morbidity is for the number of sick pigs.
• Morbidity rate = (total number of sick/total number of animals) > 100
• Mortality rate = (total number of dead/total number of animals) x 100
• Cost is the actual current value of inputs used, including cash costs (purchase of weaners, feeds,
drugs, salaries, wages) and non-cash costs (depreciation cost of buildings, equipment and tools,
or opportunity cost of labor).
• Net income is the total profit or excess of income minus the total cost of production (cash and
non-cash costs). Net Income - Total income- Total costs
• Return on Investment (ROI) is the ratio of income to investment (sum of fixed capital and
operating costs). ROI = (Net Income/Investment) × 100
