Hypor has installed an additional 116 feed stations in its nucleus units – an important part of a comprehensive plan for the continued improvement of feed conversion efficiency in Hypor maternal and terminal lines.

Over the last few months Hypor has installed 116 electronic feed stations - 68 in France, 28 in Spain and 20 in Canada. Jordi Mora, Hypor’s Global Nucleus and Production Manager states: “We are continuously investing to improve the genetic progress in our nucleus herds and the feed conversion ratio (FCR) is one of the most important traits to reduce the cost of production. This investment will allow us to measure the factors influencing feed conversion with more precision.“

Numerous factors influence FCR, including nutritional density, health status, and an animal’s age. Genetics are another significant factor and naturally of particular interest to Hypor. Measuring feed intake of individual pigs is a crucial step in determining each individual’s FCR performance and assessing an animal’s potential value to a genetic improvement program. This investment in additional feed stations allows Hypor to collect valuable information on more nucleus animals than ever before, an important part of a comprehensive program for better and more rapid improvement in this crucial trait.

Over the last decade, Hypor’s emphasis on improving FCR has had a tremendous impact on improved FCR in commercial hog production - and there is more to gain in the near future – this can be illustrated by the progress made in Hypor’s Magnus and Maxter terminal lines over the course of only the last few years. However important FCR may be, it is, of course, not Hypor’s sole breeding objective. Our vision of balanced breeding is an important part of our entire product portfolio.