Douglas Richards

As shown in the graph above the hot carcass weight (HCW) of market pigs in Ontario has been increasing over time. Processors have gone from wanting 77 kg HCW in 1977 to almost 100 kg HCW of today. With this increase in weight, producers will need to change the management in the grow-finish barns to help optimize their returns for the larger pigs. Producers may find that space allocation, size of f ...

Timely feeder management and maintenance of feeding systems can reduce feed costs — the largest expense of a grower-finisher operation. On most farms, feed cost can range from 65%–75% of the total cost to produce a grower-finisher pig to market weight. It only makes sense to continually look for ways to optimize the use and performance of your most expensive input.Estimates suggest tha ...