Case study: tight parity profile provides greater control and more steady income

Gilt Watch

Mr Watchorn explained how he shifted his philosophy and increased control of his business, and profitability, over the latter part of his career in pigs, running a 600-sow outdoor herd, taking pigs through to finishing.

“It was based on the fact that beyond parity five, sows were less economically viable and inconsistencies in production impacted not only on the breeding herd efficiency, but on rearing and finishing too”, Mr Watchorn explained.

“Pig production is a process and, if you have a process, you need to control it. I aimed to wean 290-310 pigs per week off 26 sows, and I achieved that more weeks than not, and focused on achieving an even flow of pigs through to finishing.

“I wanted a constant number of pigs going into the rearing department, then the same into the finishing stage, and a consistent number going on the lorries to the customer – which is what ultimately generated my income. However, I didn’t want to be carrying 10-15% more sows just to guarantee producing that target number of weaners.”

It was around 14 years ago when his consultant, Stephen Hall, explained the principles of running a five-parity herd. When Mr Watchorn looked at his sow performance figures with his vet, he saw they applied to his herd, with parity five being the tipping point.

Data from many farms has shown the same, including those who took part in our Gilt Watch programme. The initiative’s aim was to improve control of parity profile and herd performance, increase gilt retention beyond parity two, and decrease the financial losses.

The upfront investment cost of gilt purchase or rearing is usually not covered until they have had 2-3 litters, and each animal does not start becoming profitable until they produce their third litter.

Cutting data differently

Crucially, the philosophy requires producers to look at herd data in a different way. Mr Watchorn points out the fact that average figures can unhelpfully mask variation in pig performance. “Focusing on monthly, quarterly or six-monthly figures can provide an overall herd performance figure, useful for assurance purposes, for example. But it’s the variation you need to understand before making management decisions.”

Mr Watchorn began to look at the data for each cohort of gilts, of the same age, coming in each week. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s a weekly system, or a three- or five-week batch system, you can pull out the data for each group of gilts, monitor the performance of each individual in those groups and how many parities they reach.

“My herd statistics, over many years, consistently show that there is an increased likelihood that sows will let you down once they reach parity six.” Mr Watchorn continued. “Obviously, not all older sows perform badly, but I look at it as a higher-risk population, as you don’t know which ones it will be and, when they do let you down, you know it will be expensive.

“That’s why every sow was culled at parity five, while their performance was still high. It’s a management decision which keeps you in control as far as possible.

“If one week you’ve only got three fifth parity sows on the list to cull, and you still want to bring in seven gilts, you can be more selective about the other two sows to cull. You can base decisions on mortality or numbers born alive, for example. Our system has an equation which calculates a breeding value for sows which helps with culling decisions, once you’ve looked for the oldest ones.”

Recording the data itself can be kept very simple. Mr Watchorn kept farrowing, service and weaning record sheets and collated further information from invoices.

Practical changes

Achieving a tighter parity profile will typically take two years or more and the practical changes needed on each farm will vary, which is why studying herd-specific data is vital. Mr Watchorn points out that, ultimately, improving efficiency and reducing costs is about how you look after the pigs, and there is no silver bullet or short cut.

In Mr Watchorn’s case, the herd had always run at 600 sows and, before he began to make changes, he routinely put in extra gilts to make sure they were serving enough animals to ensure 26 sows a week were farrowing. “We could see the first thing to look at was our service results”, said Mr Watchorn. “Our numbers of successful services and piglets born alive were too variable and it wasn’t linked to the seasons. Everything else was consistent; the females came from the same unit, the same pigmen were serving each week, using the same semen. They would wean on a Thursday and then start serving on Monday.

“With the help of a training session with Ian Gillies from Rattlerow Farms, our genetics supplier, we started scoring all the services and keeping a record of those scores: good, mediocre, poor or a ‘no’. This started to build up our confidence that what we thought was good on a Monday was also good on a Tuesday. But, more importantly, that a sow that was nearly there on a Monday was OK to leave until Tuesday when she would stand really well.

“We used to serve 29 or 30 animals and, as our service routine got better, we trimmed that to 28 a week to achieve 26 in pig”, Mr Watchorn continued.

He evolved his system so that sows were culled based on age and the same number of gilts were put into the herd every week. He would start with seven gilts each week, with the aim that five would make it to parity five, therefore being able to cull the five oldest sows. However, for the first couple of years, it involved culling additional sows to transition gradually to the tighter parity profile.

Dealing with PRRS

With more consistent production levels and a tighter parity profile, the herd was robust enough to withstand a serious challenge. When faced with a PRRS outbreak, performance was severely knocked, reported Mr Watchorn, but it was not as damaging as it would have been in the past.

“We had levers we could pull to help manage it, so the herd didn’t completely fall down”, he explained. “When we were suffering additional sow losses to disease, we could keep some elite parity five sows in the herd for longer than normal, to maintain sow numbers without too much risk of a drop in productivity.”

Gilt retention

The gilt cohort data also makes it clear how many gilts are retained and how much money is being lost on the gilts that don’t get through to parity three: “Then you can investigate why and improve the way they’re managed. It may be down to animals being too young or small at service for example or being fed a suboptimal diet.”

Mr Watchorn always prioritised gilt and sow care, aiming to keep a calm environment, avoiding mixing where possible and focusing on correct nutrition. He was buying in gilts at an average weight of 115 kg at 164 days and 185 days old and would aim to serve between 235-256 days. “To help them adjust after arriving from an indoor unit, we started them on a lactator diet for a week to three weeks depending on their exact age when they arrived. The incoming gilts came from a three-week batch unit in two groups of 21, which meant that we selected three service groups of seven from each batch; this gave the smaller ones in each age group a bit longer to grow to reach at least 150 kgs at first service.

“We also spread-out management tasks, such as vaccinations and ear tagging, to keep stress to a minimum. The change of environment and transport are already enough, especially while the gilts are still growing.”

Mr Watchorn’s approach resulted in less waste and reduced costs, without cutting standards or performance. It also gave him more control of his business and his profitability.

To find out more about Gilt Watch, get in touch with Pat Loten or visit our Gilt Watch web page.