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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
PRODUCTION AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF HIGH PRODUCING SOW FARMS
Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on May 11, 2017
Sow productivity and sow farm performance are the foundations of modern, integrated pork production. Most pork producers consider the production of weaned pigs to be a cost centre and rely on the growth phases (nursery-finishing or wean-to-finish) to fully realize the value of high-quality weaned pigs. Above-average sow productivity results in a lower average cost per weaned pig. Benchmark analysis of the largest pork producers in North America consistently shows that weaned pig cost ranks as one of the most important factors in overall profitability of pork production systems. Lower weaned pig cost correlates strongly with higher profitability. The Top 25% ranked on overall company profitability had consistently lower weaned pig costs. Keep in mind that weaned pig cost can change dramatically, and has in the past 3-4 years, mainly due to big changes in feed cost. Nevertheless, at any given time, it is sow productivity that drives variation in weaned pig cost structure across sow farms.