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Factors Affecting Meat Yield
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| 1 |
The Breeding Programme |
| The single most important reason why insufficient quantities of meat are sold per week, per sq. metre of finishing floor relate to insufficient sows/gilts being served some 9 months previously |
| Correct for known times of reduced farrowing rate or litter size must be accommodated by the breeding of more females |
| 2 |
Growth Rate and Feed Intake |
| Any factor which will reduce the feed intake or growth rate will reduce the farm yield. These include overstocking, poor feed troughs, marginal water supplies, poor temperature controls, poor air quality |
| Single-sex feeding |
| 3 |
Contact with the Abattoir/Abattoirs Major Customers |
| Close liaison with abattoir. Determine exactly what type of meat they require |
| The UK industry has less than 10 major customers. Determine what they want |
| Consider the use thirst-making feeds at end of the finishing period |
| 4 |
The Correct Weight |
| Supplying pigs that are less variable in the slaughterhouse, this may require twice-weekly shipping |
| Shipping closer to the maximum permitted weight |
| The relative cost of up to 5% overweight, as compared with 5% underweight |
| A higher weight contract, however, ensure that the contract then does not become attractive to other suppliers, a real possibility if we go too heavy in the UK |
| The use of a weigh scale regularly |
| Failure to check the weigh scale at least monthly with standardised weights, not your own, variable weight |
| 5 |
The Wrong Conformation and Lean Tissue Content, P2 Measurement |
| Require that the genetic make up matches customers demands
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| Use of correct meat-type sires |
| The correct matching of feed to genetic potential |
| The correct environment to allow fulfilment of genetic potential |
| Taking advantage of any premium markets, i.e. welfare contract note requirements of piglet processing/housing |
| 6 |
Slaughtering |
| A short journey time to slaughterhouse |
| A stress free as possible journey, note stocking density, quality of roads (including your own drive), journey plan |
| A known slaughter time |
| The provision of lairage water available both for drinking and cooling |
| Prompt killing |
| The last feed 12 hours before killing |
| 7 |
Post-Weaning Disease |
| Effective health maintenance programmes |
| Attention to suppressing 'nutritional' scours post-weaning |
| Effective and prompt treatment of compromised pigs to reduce chronic ill thrift pigs, which may end up condemned anyway. |
| Moving the average dead weight by 1 kg (say 68 to 69 kg) is worth 2300 kg per 100 sows doing 23 pigs per sow per year |
