A bio-economic simulation study on the association between key performance indicators and pluck lesions in Irish farrow-to-finish pig farms

Table 1 Biological parameters^a obtained from the Teagasc e-Profit monitor used to parameterised the Teagasc Pig Production Model [30] to simulate^b effects associated with different prevalence of pleurisy and lung scars on slaughter pigs on farm performance and profitability

Parameter	LPLSC^c			LPHSC^d			HP^e
Parameter	Min	Mean	Max	Min	Mean	Max	Min	Mean	Max
Farrowing rate, %	81	89.3	95.7	73	88.2	96.1	81.8	87.9	91.2
Litters per sow per year	2.09	2.30	2.43	2.11	2.28	2.50	2.24	2.33	2.46
Number born alive piglets per litter	12.4	13.7	15.2	11.6	13.6	15.3	12.8	13.4	14.0
Sow culling rate, %	34.3	46.9	58.0	37.8	51.1	63.9	39.0	47.0	54.9
Sow mortality, %	2.3	4.2	9.3	1.8	5.4	9.2	3.2	4.7	9.7
Piglet mortality, %	6.8	10.7	14.3	5.7	10.8	15.9	5.6	9.9	14.0
Weaner mortality, %	0.5	2.1	6.8	0.9	2.9	8.9	1.5	3.7	7.0
Finisher mortality, %	0.9	1.7	3.3	1.0	2.1	4.1	1.3	2.3	3.0
Dressing, %	75.1	76.2	78.1	74.8	76.2	77.4	76.0	76.8	77.8

^aMean values were used for each scenario during the economic analysis. The range of values was used to fit probability distributions for the stochastic simulation using Monte Carlo sampling in the Microsoft Excel add-in @Risk [44]
^bA 728 sow farrow-to-finish farm with weekly farrowing batches was simulated to represent three different scenarios
^cScenario 1: a farrow-to-finish farm with prevalence of pleurisy < 25% and prevalence of lung scars < 8% with a wean-to-finish average daily gain (ADG) of 760 g and reaching target slaughter weight at 24 weeks of age
^dScenario 2: a farrow-to-finish farm with prevalence of pleurisy < 25% and prevalence of lung scars ≥8% (LPHSC) with an ADG of 725 g and reaching target slaughter weight at 25 weeks of age
^eScenario 3: a farrow-to-finish farm with prevalence of pleurisy ≥25% (HP) with and ADG of 671 g and reaching target slaughter weight at 26 weeks of age

ISSN: 2055-5660