Many farmers still do not have an accurate feed conversion figure for their pigs, which is something that should be addressed, says the head of a leading pig genetics company.
“The importance of efficient feed conversion cannot be over-estimated,” said ACMC managing director, Matthew Curtis, speaking ahead of his company’s involvement in next month’s EuroTier exhibition in Hanover, Germany.
Observing that a feed conversion improvement of just 0.1, across the EU’s 246.3 million pigs, would be worth £644 million to the industry, he said that with pig prices coming under increasing pressure, feed conversion was one of the factors that individual pig producers could still control.
“Feed is the largest cost factor in pig production and, while great strides have been taken in recent years, not enough is being done,” he said. “In our experience many farmers still do not have an accurate feed conversion figure for their pigs and this is something that should be addressed.”