US swine industry productivity analysis, 2005 to 2010

Abstract

Objective: To quantify US swine production trends for sow-farm and grow-finish traits from a large available database. Materials and methods: Data were provided by a data management company, representing annual production of approximately 1.8 million sows in the United States. Sow-farm traits included pigs per mated female per year, litters per mated female per year, total number born, number born alive, number weaned, preweaning mortality, weaning age, weaning weight, replacement rate, culling rate, sow mortality, lactation-feed intake, and gestation-feed intake. Grow-finish traits included entry age, entry weight, exit age, exit weight, average daily gain, feed efficiency, caloric efficiency, and mortality. Results: From 2005 to 2010, pigs per mated female per year, litters per mated female per year, number born alive, number weaned, weaning age, weaning weight, and lactation-feed intake increased (P . 05). Entry age and entry weight increased (P . 05). No improvements were made for finishing caloric efficiency (P >. 05), and wean-to-finish caloric efficiency worsened (P