QUESTIONING SALESPEOPLE

The questions in the foregoing checklist are interesting to ask. Salesmen may have been

instructed not to denigrate the opposition. If so, accept it as part of selling ethics. But you never

know - by judicious questioning I have obtained some useful and important cross-confirmed data

on various genetic lines which diplomatically I will not publish here, and there is no reason why

you cannot do the same.

For example, data from 7 or 8 sources have revealed advantages between various commercial

blood lines in the areas of:

 Meat per Tonne of Food (MTF) on the same carcase yield.

 Leg strength and Appetite under hot conditions.

 Feed Protein needs of the slaughter pig in the last month before shipping. The progeny of

some lines might be taken on to 120 kg without excess fat.

 Loading and haulage stress.

 Docility.

 Presence of marbling genes e.g. 0.7% marbling fat v 1.3%.

 Killing out percentage e.g. ± 1% under identical conditions.

This has enabled me to recommend certain breed lines which are more likely to be suited to the

specific farm conditions I‟ve encountered. I know this works because in most cases the follow-

up resulted in comments like “Since we tried (or changed to ) breed „X‟ the problem has been

much better.” Remember, no one breeding company‟s pigs are necessarily „the best‟. I am

frequently asked “which do you consider the best breed?” The best one is the right one for your

conditions and to compensate for/remove your commercial weaknesses.

 GETTING TO THE TRUTH

Of course getting the relevant “classified” information out of people is difficult, and in a

commercial situation most lay people regard it as impossible. Trade secrets are just that. Secret!

But an old journalist‟s trick is to „float the negative‟. You need to know the subject matter pretty

well, and insert an assumption, statement or claim into the discussion which is just sufficiently

and deliberately wrong for the victim to at once correct it with the right figure from his kindly or

professional instinct to put you straight. There are a variety of conversational subterfuges like

this, and the rest I‟m keeping to myself, although if you go into a good bookshop and read up on

modern interrogation methods you‟ll get the hang of it! Meanwhile – beware of journalists!

WEANER GILTS – A NEW TREND (Junior gilts in North America)

This is an relatively new development. Many commercial breeders are now buying their

replacement breeding females – not at 90 - 100 kg but at 25 - 30 kg. I forecast that many bought-

in gilts will be purchased as early as this in Europe within the next few years – that is on the

professional/efficient units. Already some are being purchased at 60 kg (18-19 weeks).

Cheaper and better

The reasons are not hard to see. The economic and performance evidence is now coming through

from the pioneers of the system who started about 12 years ago, as it is not until the fourth year

beyond repopulation that all progeny are derived from sows bought-in as weaner gilts.

Cheaper cost

In Europe the cost of a selected maiden gilt at 100 kg bought from a breeding company is about

£220. Of course the price of a 32 kg weaner gilt from the same source is not going to be as low

as the value of a 32 kg home-reared female destined for meat, but prices have varied recently
from £90 to £110, and one at 60 kg £200. All these are list prices and can be negotiable among

European breeding companies. Table 2 gives a typical breakdown of comparative costs.

The Newsham breeding company, now merged with J.S.R. Genetics, quoted savings of £20 - £25

at 95 kg (Brisby, 1998) which was then a 12-15% saving on their average maiden gilt price.

Table 2. Typical cost of weaner gilts in the UK

(£)
Weaner gilt at 35 kg (median price) 110.00
Feed at £185/tonne 35-100 kg (FCR 2.8:1) 33.67
Water, bedding, vet & vaccination 12.00
Interest on cost of gilt and feed 3.50
Combined purchase and production cost 159.17
Assuming 4 out of 5 gilts are selected at this stage the cost to 100 kg is .
5 x £159.17 795.85
Less sale of non selected gilt, say . . . 75.00
720.85
Net cost per gilt selected £188.21
A saving of £32.02 per gilt or 14.5% on a £220.63 maiden gilt price

Better performance

A comparison of 49 herds using standard gilts and 16 herds buying weaner gilts (called „junior‟

gilts in the USA) showed a 5.9% advantage in farrowing rate, 0.07 more litters per sow per year,

17 fewer empty days per sow per year, 0.5 more pigs born alive/litter, 0.28 more pigs

reared/litter and 1.39 more pigs weaned per sow per year on 60 kg less food required per sow per

year.

Why is this? The rationale behind buying breeding stock replacements at an earlier age and

lighter weight is to allow a longer and more effective acclimatisation period prior to full
introduction to the breeding herd. At least six weeks (and with certain low level diseases present,

8 weeks) is now advised when buying in maiden gilts at 100 kg. This delay is expensive in itself,

and these extra costs alone would make a properly acclimatised maiden gilt kept longer before

full introduction to the herd under the new recommendations, even more expensive. The extra

costs are at least a further 5% per gilt to add to the 12 to 20% savings likely from buying „junior‟

gilts at 30 kg.

And what of the 60 kg gilt?

Producers should negotiate a realistic price based on their cost of rearing the animal over 40 kg
liveweight to 100 kg. At the time of writing, and having done the sums on several clients‟ farms,

this should not be less than 15% of the price asked for a maiden gilt. A major breeding company

who does supply weaner gilts, reports that even under their skilled management, they can expect

a 28% drop-out between 35 kg and 100 kg. If the commercial producer finds himself about this

failure level, he must be careful to do the sums vis-a-vis weaner gilt cost price, plus cost of

production to 100 kg and drop-out rate, set against likelihood of better performance from these

animals as sows (See Better Performance page 147)

Disease lower?

A much longer acclimatization period should result in less disturbance to the current health status

of the herd. The weaner gilt herd owners interviewed felt that breeding herd health was better

and there were fewer re-occurring health problems. We must wait for further evidence on overall

disease incidence but sow mortality was lower, 4.0% compared to 4.3%. However mortality

from born alives was higher on the junior gilt herds – 12.66 v 11.18 per litter. The absolute

mortality figure per litter (A.M.F.) was 1.19 piglets (maidens) v 1.41 piglets (juniors), but the

juniors piglets were weaned 2.5 days later.

Much more weaner weight produced per tonne of food

A very important difference hidden in the published figures was the amount of saleable weaner

weight produced per tonne of sow and piglet feed. At 116.5 kg (maidens) against 142.2 kg

(juniors) this is a 22% improvement. Under European economics (for 2010) this is equivalent to

a 9% reduction per tonne in the price of all breeding and piglet food.

Comparisons to 36-38 kg

Did the considerable advantages of the weaner gilt system at weaning continue up the

Acceleration phase of lean growth, which usually starts to ease off around 35 - 40 kg? Yes, it

did!

Daily gain (7 to 37 kg) was 585 g/day (juniors) as against 548 g/day (maidens) or 1.28 v 1.20 lb.

There was a marked difference in FCR; 1.8 (juniors) to 2.23 (maidens). This in itself would

suggest the junior-sourced pigs could cope better with disease challenges at this critical stage of

growth. Because of this large food conversion advantage, the liveweight produced per tonne of

feed used through this stage was heavily in favor of the junior-gilt sourced herds – 698 kg v 559

kg, a difference of 139 kg or 25%! Even more dramatic – the figures on the PIC costings of the

time revealed a reduction of 70% on the cost/kg gain to this weight.

If these results can be maintained by typical breeders it is no surprise to find that my forecast of
big savings from buying junior gilts will be correct.