Pig breeding is a business in which you can earn a lot or lose a lot
Complicating the work 11-month production cycle (from the moment of insemination of the sow until the sale of the pig to slaughter). What is even more difficult, at the beginning of production we do not know what the price for a pig will be or how much money it will take to produce it!
Of course, we make plans and budget, but the price of animals and the price of feed (our main costs) depend on supply and demand in the world market, which, in turn, is affected by many unpredictable factors (weather, natural disasters and wars).
We add to this the average amount of investments for the construction of a new farm, which today amounts to UAH 15-20 thousand per sow (from the beginning of the project to the time of the first sale) - and it becomes clear that pig-breeding business is a serious matter.
To become successful in this business, we need to understand what factors influence it.
The common thing for all enterprises is the fact that the enterprise must sell to generate income. There is often a misunderstanding here. What do we sell with a pig farm?We sell kilograms of pork, in live or slaughter weight. We do not sell pigs!
At a price of 19-22 hryvnia per kilogram we will sell pigs weighing 105 kg or 110 kg - we will get absolutely different money. If we have more pigs, this does not mean that we will get more money!
We visit pig farms throughout Ukraine and, in most cases, plans for the age and weight of pigs are not implemented for implementation.The reason for this is the lack of understanding of business: what we sell and what limits us.
Organization of the farm area
Area and time- two limiting factors. When we come to the farms and see that the pigs are being sold at underweight, we again and again explain this by the lack of sufficient area.
The first question that we always ask: "How many places do you have?". Some farms know this, and some do not. They know - well, do not know - we start to measure or calculate the number of places for fattening and fattening.
When the number of seats is known, the next question is: "How many pigs do you have?". Having these two figures, we can say for sure how many vacancies there are in the economy. This figure often becomes a big surprise for the managers of the economy. Only the fact that in all cells there are pigs does not mean that the farm is 100% full!
How much is an empty building? This is another question that usually confounds! If there are no pigs in the building, we can not grow kilograms of meat. Nevertheless, the economy still, in one way or another, bears most of the costs (interest, depreciation, partly electricity, wages, etc.).
Naturally, in the production cycle from time to time it happens that the buildings are empty. For example, during washing and disinfection - mandatory measures of the production process. Also empty places appear due to the sale for slaughter of pigs of a certain weight range.
In practice, the maximum occupancy of the growing and fattening shops is 95% (at the end of the week after weaning, when the growing department is full). If this figure in your household is lower, it means that you lose the potential income possible when growing more kilograms of meat.
Cleaning the room- a process where you can save a lot of time. If it takes 5 days to work for 8 hours a day to wash the room, then this procedure requires 40 working hours. The same shop can be cleaned in one day if 5 people work simultaneously 8 hours or even in shifts (3 shifts for 8 hours: two from 6.00 to 14.00, two from 14.00 to 22.00 and one person from 22.00 to 6.00).
Most expenses remain unchanged regardless of how many days are spent - one or five. But how much income in the form of not produced kilograms of meat will be lost in 5 days of cleaning the room! After all, on many farms people work 24 hours a day: operators in the farrowing shops (to save the pigs and earn more money) or security officers (to protect property and save the enterprise's money). But when we offer to wash the premises 24 hours a day in order to save money, the same farms look at us like crazy!
This earlier, with the use of primitive preparations for disinfection, required the absence of animals in the room for a long time. Now multifunctional disinfectants allow the animals to be launched in the shop after 30 minutes. The dead will not be dead even after 24 hours!
By the way about disinfectants: we rarely meet farms, where disinfectants are used in sufficient quantities or where they even know how to calculate the right amount of the drug for a particular room.
Unfortunately, instructions for use very often give a minimum of information, indicating only 0.5% or 1% - percentage of why, sorry? In order to kill viruses or bacteria, a sufficient dose of a chemical per square meter of the treated surface is needed. Determine the correct dosage per square meter of the drug you use and measure the total area treated in the room (remember that all surfaces must be treated!).
What are the main reasons for selling pigs in underweight?
Incorrect weighing
Does any pig know any industry that does not weigh or measure the quantity of products sold? Is it possible to imagine a feed production company that does not know exactly how much feed it delivered to the client or a veterinary production company that would not know how much the drug is in the bottle? No!
Weighing is a stressful exercise for pigs, but with proper organization it can be done once per batch of pigs and even weekly, if necessary. Pigs can be marked with different colors (for example, red color of those that will be sold next week, blue in a week, and small ones can not be tagged).
Small pigs at the moment of slaughter
If in cages with pigs, which are being prepared for sale next week or in a week, there are vacant places, move small animals there, so that they grow up in a week or two and give as a result more kilograms of meat. Yes, it violates the "empty-busy" principle, but it will not cause problems one or two weeks before slaughter.
Sanitary slaughter (sanbrake)
In principle, sanitary slaughter is a good thing. Send to the slaughter pig, which otherwise die, and get for it at least some money - fine. However, in many farms that we visited, this system is heavily abused.
We have seen many farms where more than 10% of pigs are sold as sanbrak in order to reduce the case index. This is done by people who do not understand the meaning of business (the fact that we sell kilograms). In some cases, this is done out of laziness (it is easier to sell a pig than to treat it).
If only one of the six pigs survive and grows to 110 kg, the income will be higher (we are talking about income, knowing that feeding the animal will also require costs - and such a pig is more likely to be able to convert the feed worse than absolutely healthy).
When on the farm we ask the question why this or that pig was sold to sanbrake, we always hear: "She could die." To which we always reply: "She could live !!!".
It is necessary to change the attitude with "Doubt? Sell! "On" Doubt? Leave and heal! "- and the percentage of Sanbrak will decrease, and the number of kilograms sold will increase, increasing the average cost of sales (UAH / kg).
Laziness
Open the cell door and load all the pigs from there, "because it's easier than choosing animals from different cells" - a familiar situation ... Yes, we all know that this also happens, and much more often than we are ready to admit it.
Motivating staff for better results
Underestimate the ability of workers is very easy. If they worked so badly, as they sometimes say, they simply could not overpower their human existence - they could not keep a house, buy food, or even go to work.People go to work not in order to work badly!
If employees do not do what they should, it is the fault of the leadership. Again, a simple example: ask workers who load pigs for slaughter, do they know what the planned weight of animals should be. It's amazing how many workers do not know this.The first and basic principle of management is to convey to employees what is required of them.If you do not, how can you expect good work?
You can use the bonus system of payment, but it is very important to explain to employees what the bonus system is and how the bonus can be obtained. Usually in the shops of growing and fattening bonuses are paid for the lack of a case, for growth and for a low conversion of feed.
Accounting methods, which are conducted in many farms, promote the sale of sandbrak (which gives a lower case rate and a higher growth rate) or the sale of pigs in a small weight (thereby lowering the conversion rate). This absolutely contradicts the goals of business.
It is much better and easier to pay the bonus depending on the kilograms sold. Calculate a weekly plan and pay a bonus if this plan is implemented. If you do not want to fine the employees of the growing and fattening department for not having enough weaners, use a simple formula to calculate.
For example: Planned number of kilograms sold = total number of weaners x 95% x 110 kg.
Thanks to this, the staff pays more attention to what brings the result to the enterprise, considering the mortality rate and the rate of growth of animals. This is an ideal bonus system, in which everyone wins. And what is also very important is that it is impossible to forge this result!
A source:biomedia.rf