The most common method of marketing grower-finisher pigs is to sell individual pigs that have reached a pre-set target weight that typically maximizes carcass index. However, marketing for the highest carcass index does not guarantee the highest net revenue for each hog or for the barn. For example, if no replacements are added to the pen when individual pigs are sold, the barn cannot operate at full capacity.
Marketing method can affect barn efficiency. In this study we consider two such marketing methods. The first method simply sells all pigs in the pen when the average pen weight reaches 105 kg. A second method is to market pigs individually as each pig reaches 105 kg. An extra step in the latter method is to regroup and mix the remaining pigs from several pens into a single, full pen. Pigs are often mixed and sorted in nurseries and at entry into feeder barns to maximize pig uniformity and space utilization. Mixing finisher pigs is less common because finisher pigs may fight more and experience poorer gains after mixing.
Testing new management approaches such as different marketing schemes or mixing near-market pigs is financially impractical on most farms. We have used a less costly method to test these economic effects by using a computer model to simulate these marketing schemes.