First, one must look at feed quality. All pork producers have participated in the Pork Quality Assurance program sponsored by the National Pork Board; however, a feed quality assurance program should be implemented as well. Feed quality issues that need to be monitored include grinding or particle size, diet formulations, feeder adjustment, and storage.

Feed costs can be as much as 70% of the total production costs and when market prices are low, profitability depends on minimizing feed costs. Anything that improves feed efficiency will be more economical in times of high feed costs.

Producers should monitor particle size and keep the average size at 700 to 800 microns with less than 5 % variability. Many times, if particle size is not determined frequently, it will creep up to 1,000 microns as the grinder screens wear. This may increase feed cost for a producer by $.50 to $1.00 per pig due to poorer feed efficiency.

Producers may want to evaluate dietary formulations and make sure that they are not overfeeding any nutrients unnecessarily. Lysine is often overfed during the late finisher period (after 230 lbs). If a producer lowers the lysine concentration by a tenth of a percent, feed costs can be reduced by approximately $3.00/ton. However, do not reduce nutrients inclusion rates so far the performance is impacted.

Heat stress, disease and crowding do not increase the pig's lysine requirement; in fact, those stressors that decrease feed intake decrease lysine requirement as well as performance. Therefore, environmental stressors should be minimized as much as possible.

With increasing feed costs, producers might want to think about feeding to lighter weights, which will increase feed efficiency. Today's average market weight exceeds 260 lbs and continues to increase.

The main reason for the increase market weights could be packers emphasizing the importance of larger pigs as more pounds of pork per given shackle space, producers maximizing pounds of pork produced per square foot and cheap feed costs. Figure 1 demonstrated that additional revenue is generated from the net gain of pigs grown an additional 50 pounds with $40.00/cwt and a 3.8 feed efficiency even when feed costs approach $130.00/ton.

Old versus new corn can often be a contributor to poor performance. Mycotoxins need to be tested in both old and new corn. Mycotoxins, such as aflatoxin, will reduce growth performance if concentrations are above 200 ppb and zeolite or clays might want to be used. In addition, if you have been feeding a 13 % moisture corn and suddenly begin using a 15% corn, feed intake and ultimately feed efficiency will be affected as it will take more corn to get the same dry matter nutrient intake, which results in about 1 lb extra feed intake per pig per week.

In conclusion, it is probably a good time to fine tune feed management practices on the farm, such as the grain quality, grinding efficiency, diet formulations, and feeder adjustments. A slight alteration in feed quality and formulations can dramatically impact growth performance resulting in $.50 to $3.00 drop in feed costs per pig. Additionally, producers might also want to consider a price signal on feed cost and market price as to when they need to start selling hogs at lighter weights.

Helpful Hints to Minimize Feed Costs:

• Monitor grain quality (particle size, mycotoxins, etc.)
• Adjust feeders properly.
• Make adjustments with old versus new grain.
• Evaluate market weights based on feed costs.