Dr. John Carr, a world livestock consultant, veterinarian, and lecturer, presented recently on reducing production cost and particularly looking at the cost of feed wastes in pig production.  
Food accounts for the bulk of the production cost, about 65 per cent is food, genetics around 6 per cent, health bill at around four and five per cent, and the labour bill, about 12 per cent to 14 per cent. Water, electricity, and bedding account for the remaining costs.  
“It is the margin overfeed, which often relates to the profitability of the farm, so when the food prices go up too high, then the cost of production becomes extremely hard.” 
Dr. Carr said the food comes in two forms: an energy source, corn, wheat and barley, and a soya protein source. This all goes into producing excellent quality pork at the right price so that the consumer can pay for it.  
Unfortunately, when the price of food goes up but the price of pigs goes down at the slaughter / processing plant, profits drop.  
The first thing a producer must do is make sure the feed and feed source are secure and not allow the disease to come into the barn via food. Biosecurity means everyone from the producer to the person working in the feed mills. No swill feeding.  
Next, in actual feed wastage, a producer must look at the feed bin and feed manufacturing system itself.  
“First, be careful how much feed goes to waste, how much dust does the system produce, what percentage of feed does the production system lose?” 
Maintaining on-farm and commercial systems is vital to process the grain without leaving any whole kernels, which animals can find difficult to digest.  
While simplistic, Dr. Carr said that all the feed goes into the feed bin during delivery and leaves no piles when transporting from feed bin to feeder.  
“We don’t end up with the medicated feed in the wrong bin, or even just the wrong food in the wrong bin, because all of this adds to waste. Something producers forget medicated food particularly have temperature requirements. And so this antibiotic should be kept below 25, difficult in the summertime to keep our feed bins below 25.” 
A more practical problem is in the nursery where the temperature is at 30 degrees Celsius, so don’t keep the nursery feed in the nursery just because it’s convenient to fill the nursery feed. 
At that temperature this high milk product will go sour and wonder why the pigs are not eating properly.  
“If the pigs don’t like eating the food, then you need to taste it maybe yourself watching health and safety. But in truth, if you don’t want to eat the food, why should the pigs?” 
Dr. Carr emphasized the feed setup. Is there enough feed space for the pigs? How are the pigs getting access to the food? These pigs eat ad-lib, so the food must be there all the time.  
Sadly, several research projects show how many farms miss feed events for various reasons, blocked and broken feeders and feedlines. And the research shows batches of pigs don’t always eat every day, a significant problem for the industry.  
“On several of my farms, we install video cameras so that we can monitor the feed. Food is that expensive. We cannot afford to waste it in this way.” 
Dr. Carr said it is not unusual for pig farms to waste 10 to 15 per cent of their feed. The health bill can be around four or five per cent, depending on the pigs’ health, but the wasted food could be two to three times more than the vet bill, so a significant contribution to the cost of production.  
Dr. Carr said to use the right boar to ensure the proper food conversion ratio. For example, using a boar that reduces the food conversion by 0.1 would reduce the feed intake by 10 kilos for a 300-kilo pig. It reduces the costs, reduces the pig’s carbon footprint, and creates more profit if it is available in pig production. 
“In summary, reducing the feed waste helps us reduce the waste and keep our clients in business, and improve our biosecurity at the same time.” •
— By Harry Siemens