Risk Awareness Checklist: Production Risk

1. If you use AI in your operation, do you take steps to ensure semen quality? Yes or No

Question 1: The correct answer is Yes.
If you are not using quality semen, then you are in danger of falling short of competitive conception rate goals. This results in increased expenses for labor (additional time spent breeding) and semen supplies, and reduced revenue due to fewer litters.

2. Do you use real-time ultrasound to ensure that females are pregnant 28 days post mating? Yes or No

Question 2: The correct answer is Yes.
If you are not preg-checking females, you could be losing $30 per open female in feed costs if you are feeding her to term. You are also incurring the costs for housing.

Question 3: The correct answer is Yes.
Over time, an 80% conception rate will not generate enough profit to cover costs. The pinch will be especially noticed during times of low profit margins. Unfortunately, by the time this problem appears in the form of "red ink", it takes many months to correct. Farms with low conception rates need to train their employees in improved breeding techniques.

4. Do you follow a well-designed gilt development and acclimation program that optimizes reproductive cyclic activity as well as health? Yes or No

Question 4: The correct answer is Yes.
If you do not utilize a gilt development and acclimation program, you risk lowering your conception rate, as well as the reproductive performance of the individual females. This will lead to fewer pigs and lower profits.

5. Are you using terminal boars or semen to optimize carcass, feed efficiency, and growth traits? Yes or No

Question 5: The correct answer is Yes.
Improved feed efficiency and growth traits will result in reduced feed costs. Using genetics to improve feed efficiency could save you $1.30 to $3.25 per unit change in the feed/gain ratio. Using boars to produce leaner hogs will save you $1.20 to $1.80 per tenth reduction in backfat thickness. Most packers also pay premiums of up to $2 per hundred weight for improved carcass traits.

6. Do your maternal genetic line and management program maximize sow condition, conception rate, and litter size? Yes or No

Question 6: The correct answer is Yes.
A good management program improves the condition of the sow, which will improve conception rate, litter size, and milking ability.

7.Do you have farrowing room management protocols in place to ensure high preweaning survival, piglet growth, sow feed intake, and a weaning average of at least 8 pigs/litter? Yes or No

Question 7: The correct answer is Yes.
You need to be sure the sow is eating so she will milk well. For each pig lost before weaning, you lose, on average, $47.25/cwt. A weaning average below 8 pigs/litter indicates poor reproductive performance, mothering ability or management practices.

8. Have you set a breeding target high enough to cover production costs? Yes or No

Question 8: The correct answer is Yes.
After you have set a weaning target at least high enough to cover your production costs, allowing for some death loss and slow growth, use your weaning average (pigs/sow) and conception rate to calculate the target number of females to breed.

Question 9a: The correct answer is No.
People can track manure that can contain disease-causing organisms.

Question 9b: The correct answer is Yes.
Use of biosecurity barriers such as fences and warning signs can reduce the risk of spreading disease to swine.

Question 9c: The correct answer is Yes.
Showering-in greatly reduces disease spreading, and should be done especially if the visitors to your farm have been around other animals previously the same day.

d. Do you provide coveralls and boots for visitors to wear inside your pig facilities? Yes or No

Question 9d: The correct answer is Yes.
You should at least provide coveralls and boots to your visitors, if you don't require them to shower in, to prevent them from bringing disease in to your herd.

Question 10: The correct answer is No.
Disease can be carried and introduced to your herd from vehicles contaminated with manure that travel from farm to farm. You should also require all livestock trucks to be washed and disinfected after delivering hogs to packing plants and buying stations before entering your farm.

11. Do you use isolation and acclimation when bringing animals onto your farm? Yes or No

Question 11: The correct answer is Yes.
An isolation period of at least 4-6 weeks is useful to detect diseases that do not exist in your herd. Acclimation exposes new breeding stock to your herd, and any diseases that exist in the herd so they can build immunity to them.

Question 12: The correct answer is No.
Using continuous flow production does not give you a chance to empty the buildings and wash them down to stop the spread of disease to new pigs entering the buildings. This can be damaging to herd health, and will most likely result in poorer performance of your market animals, including slower rate of gain, poor feed efficiency, and higher animal mortality. Continuous flow also inhibits your ability to keep records because there is no way to define the start and end of groups.

Question 13: The correct answer is Yes.
All-in/All-out management is the best method of production. It allows the buildings to be cleaned and disinfected between groups of animals. This prevents the spread of disease from one group to the next.

Question 14: The correct answer is Yes.
Using multi-site, all-in/all-out production will decrease vertical transmission of disease, by providing clean buildings to each new group of pigs on the site. It also breaks the cycle of disease transmission from the sow herd to the market herd by maintaining physical separation between them.

15. Do you always work from healthy pigs to sick pigs, younger pigs to older pigs? Yes or No

Question 15: The correct answer is Yes.
You should work from healthy to sick pigs so that you are not spreading disease from sick to healthy pigs. You should work from younger to older pigs, because younger pigs may be more susceptible to diseases that older pigs may be carrying.

Question 16: The correct answer is Yes.
Rodents and birds can potentially carry disease from sick to healthy pigs on your farm, and may also transfer disease from other farms.

Question 17: The correct answer is Yes.
Fumigation helps to control disease-spreading pests, but should be undertaken carefully to avoid human health risks.

Question 18: The correct answer is Yes.
Moldy grain can cause pseudopregnancy in sows. Also, pigs may refuse to eat or may get very sick, and thus weight gain will be reduced.

Question 19: The correct answer is Yes.
A good veterinary-client relationship should result in continuous monitoring of herd health status. With a strong vet-client relationship, you can develop vaccination and medication protocols that directly address the needs of your herds and result in the greatest economic benefits.

Question 20: The correct answer is Yes.
Vaccination and medication protocols are vital to maintaining high herd health.

Question 21: The correct answer is Yes.
You must carefully follow all label instructions to ensure you are using medications on the proper age group and species, at the correct dosage, and using the correct injection method. If you use medication on the wrong species or age group, it could be toxic to the animal, or it may simply be ineffective, and thus unnecessarily increase your health costs, and it is also illegal. Also, injecting pregnant sows with medication not intended for use during gestation could result in abortions.

Question 22: The correct answer is Yes.
If you are not following proper drug withdrawal times, the meat sold to consumers could contain drug residue. In export markets, drug residues can lead to substantial rejections that harm the entire U.S. Pork Industry's competitive position.

Question 23a: The correct answer is Yes.
An interruption in electrical power would shut down exhaust fans in confinement buildings. Older pigs and sows may die from overheating or suffocate from lack of oxygen within one hour. Nursery pigs may die within 30 minutes. An automatic backup electrical system is essential for confinement production systems.

Question 23b: The correct answer is Yes.
If pigs are not kept cool with fans and cool water during periods of extreme heat, they may die of heat stress.

Question 23c: The correct answer is Yes.
Extremely cold temperatures can cause discomfort and sickness in pigs that results in poor performance and/or mortality.

Question 24: The correct answer is Yes.
Gilts and barrows have different nutritional requirements. Split-sex feeding allows you to maximize feed efficiency and rate of gain and minimize feed costs. Using split-sex feeding in combination with phase feeding can save you approximately $1.50 per cwt. in production costs.

Question 25: The correct answer is Yes.
If your feeders are adjusted to provide too much feed, feed will be wasted and your feed costs will be unnecessarily high. If feeders are adjusted too low, feed consumption will be limited.

Question 26: The correct answer is Yes.
Phase feeding is important because pigs have different nutritional requirements at different ages (ex: younger pigs require a higher protein diet). Phase feeding has also been shown to reduce phosphorous excretion by 10% over the course of feeding, which reduces the risk of environmental problems. Using phase feeding in combination with split-sex feeding can save you approximately $1.50 per cwt. in production costs.

Question 27: The correct answer is Yes.
If you are paying too much for the phase-1 starter diet, then your feed costs are driven up. Controlling costs for phase-1 feed will help you to lower your overall feed costs.

28. Do you periodically review your feeding program with a knowledgeable "consultant" (unbiased source)? Yes or No

Question 28: The correct answer is Yes.
You may need to periodically change or update your feeding program to meet the needs of your growing pigs. Be sure you consult an unbiased source, to insure that you are getting accurate recommendations.