Improvements in GB breeding herd performance stall in Q3

The latest data from Agrosoft shows that improvements in the performance of the GB breeding sow herd slowed in the 12 months to September 2020. The average number of pigs weaned per sow per year stood at 26.43, still 0.29 pigs per sow more than in the 12 months to September 2019. However, this was a little lower than the average for the 12 months to June 2020 (26.51) indicating that performance in Q3 this year was worse than last year.

Outdoor systems have continued to see gains in pigs weaned per sow per year. However, indoor systems have seen some moderation recently, which limited the overall average.

Indoor systems

In the 12 months to September 2020, the number of pigs weaned per sow per year in indoor herds averaged 27.67, only 0.03 pigs more than in the 12 months to September 2019. There was a rise in the number of pigs born alive per litter. However, a decrease in the number of litters per sow per year, and a slight increase in the pre-weaning mortality, hampered overall improvement.

A larger year-on-year performance gain (+0.42 pigs) was recorded for indoor herds for the 12-months to June 2020. It seems much of this improvement has been lost more recently, due to poorer performance in Q3, compared with last year. This is due to the drop in litters per sow per year.

Outdoor systems

Outdoor herds saw an average of 24.59 pigs weaned per sow per year over the 12-months to September 2020, 0.64 pigs more than the 12 months to September 2019. The number of pigs born alive per litter, and the number of litters per sow per year both increased, although a very slight increase in the pre-weaning mortality worked against these factors.

The 12-month rolling average of pigs weaned per sow per year for the outdoor herd has increased each quarter since Q4 2019. This shows that, unlike for the indoor herd, improvements have been ongoing across the past 12-month period.

Implications

The rise in the number of pigs weaned per sow across the past 12 months overall means we would expect to have seen more pigs coming forward in recent months. This has not entirely been the case. This may be partly due to generally higher mortality levels at rearing and finishing over the past 12 months, mitigating some of the breeding herd performance gains. Pigs sold per sow per year averaged 24.49 for the latest 12-month period, only 0.14 above a year earlier. We do also have reports of a backlog of pigs waiting on farm, influenced by COVID-19 related difficulties at processing plants.

Looking ahead, the moderation in breeding herd performance gains in Q3 this year could potentially help ease some of the pressure in the system in early 2021. Of course, this will also depend on clean pig performance later in the production cycle.

The latest physical performance data for the GB pig herd can be found on the AHDB website here.

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