Make Time to Evaluate and Reap the Rewards

UK - The start of a new financial year is a good time to review production targets and set new ones, says BPEX. More producers are now seeing a gradual improvement in herd health with the stabilisation of PMWS and most herds there are showing signs of improved performance and better productivity.

Communication is the key to building on success, but how often do owners and managers sit down with their staff to discuss performance and give feed back on the units overall performance?

BPEX says this should be a priority and is advising producers to hold team meetings to review the past year's performance, comment on progress agree next years targets and consider how these are going to be achieved. But, remember targets should be attainable, but challenging and motivating.

Such meetings should be part of the management routine, says the BPEX and scheduled once a month.

Keeping Tabs, Pays Off

For example, BPEX Knowledge transfer team reports from a North Yorkshire unit where consistent evaluation of an increasing number born alive, combined with an excellent farrowing rate, meant that opportunities to reduce piglet mortality ar a 600-sow herd.

The farms at Helmsley, is currently achieving 13 pigs per litter, numbers that could not be maintained with the normal method of using nurse sows. And so Mike Coates, production manager, decided to resurrect the Nurtinger piglet rearing system and to very good effect. His renovated seven Nurtinger units, plus an investment in another three units has helped to reduce pre-weaning mortality by five percent. Piglet losses from the Nurtinger units are under one per cent - very impressive.

ThePigSite News Desk

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