The Rural Voice, 1997-10, Page 37the two systems, though some
individual SEW farms were
experiencing low rates. The wean -
conception rate was not significantly
longer for SEW herds than farrow -to -
finish herds. The average number of
services per litter was not
significantly different.
"The average parity of farrow -to -
finish herds is significantly higher
than the average parity of SEW
herds. This would be expected since
expansion was often occurring in
conjunction with the switch to SEW.
As these herds mature we may see an
improvement in reproductive
performance."
The survey showed SEW pigs
took 159 days to get to market
compared to 164 for farrow -to -finish
pigs. Pigs enter the nursery at a
younger age with SEW and stay for a
longer period. SEW pigs enter the
grow/finish phase at 63 days
compared to 61 days.
Because farrow -to -finish pigs
enter the nursery when they
are older, their average daily
gain was higher. Still, there was no
significant difference in gain or feed
conversion between the two systems.
There was also no significant
difference in feed conversion or
average daily gain in the grow/finish
phase, though the study says the
SEW system was so new when the
figures were collected that only small
amounts of pigs could be analysed.
Gordon Bowman brought hope for
the small producer when he pointed
out "Pig production is a biological,
not a manufacturing process.
Improvements in the efficiency of the
process are open to operations of all
scale. The process can be
industrialized into large scale
operations but the resulting
efficiencies of scale are minimal
because all major production costs
are costs per pig (feed, housing, and
labour)."
The cost of feed, Bowman said, is
not influenced by the scale of the
operation: it's a function of
production management, not scale.
"Pork production is a biological
cycle: it will always take five or six
months to get a hog to market. You
can't put on extra shifts."
There is a threshold commercial
scale (TSC), however, he said. This
scale is based on a farm size that
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