Page 2 - APN Jan 2017

Pig Industry Calendar of Events
2018
JAN 9 - 11 – Banff Pork Seminar, Banff, Canada www.banffpork.ca/home
JAN 10 - 11 – South Dakota Pork Congress, South Dakota US www. sdppc.org/events-4/pork-congress
JAN 29 - FEB 9 – Science and Practice of Pig Production course, Roseworthy, South Australia www.porkcrc.com.au E: rebecca.smith@porkcrc.com.au or william.vanwettere@adelaide.edu.au
FEB 7 - 8 – Manitoba Swine Seminar, Winnipeg, Canada www. manitobaswineseminar.com
MAR 3 - 6 – Annual Meeting of the American Association of Swine, San Diego, California, US www.aasv.org/ annmtg
MAR 21 – World Butchers’ Challenge, Belfast, Ireland www.facebook.com/ events/1038188022980633
MAY 30 - 31 – Pan Pacific Pork Expo (PPPE), Gold Coast, Queensland www. pppe.com.au
JUN 20 - 22 – VIV Europe 2018, Utrecht, The Netherlands www.viveurope.nl/ en/Bezoeker.aspx
SEP 25 - 27 – PorkExpo 2018 Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil www.porkexpo.com.br
OCT 17 - 19 – Vietstock Expo & Forum, Saigon, Vietnam www.vietstock.org
How to supply event details: Send all details to Australian Pork Newspaper, PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163, call 07 3286 1833 fax: 07 3821 2637, email: ben@porknews.com.au
porknews.com.au
07 3286 1833
☛ from P1
I sincerely hope it’s posi-
tive.
More imports
I noticed in a recent news article that the Aus- tralian Government on December 22 announced it had expanded market access for uncooked and cooked pig meat from the UK.
This involved expanded market access for un- cooked pig meat (for fur- ther processing on arrival) from Great Britain and retorted pig meat products from Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
I am not sure what all this means or what the retorted products might be, but I don’t think it’s good news.
Global positioning
I will detail where we sit globally in my February or March Pork CRC Initi- atives column, but looking at the figures across the world, we generally have higher feed costs than most and lower carcass weight sold per sow/year than everyone else.
The latter is where we can make the greatest gains and have the biggest
impact on cost of produc- tion.
As I said, increasing car- cass weight reflects the relationship between pro- ducer and procurer, while increasing pigs sold/sow/ year may depend on our researchers coming up with new ideas and inno- vative science.
However, the situation is not as bad as it might seem.
I say this because we now have herds wean- ing 11-plus pigs/litter and more than 26/mated sow/ year.
We also have herds selling 80kg-plus car- casses.
If you could move from selling 22 to 25 pigs/sow/ year at current feed costs, you would reduce COP from about $2.60/kg to $2.42/kg for a 75kg carcass.
If able to sell a heavier carcass, the sky is the limit.
Change settings
Given we seem to have the genetics to become more globally competi- tive, I think we need to readjust our performance targets and I suggest you set them around the levels shown in Table 1.
Somewhat higher tar- gets have been set for our researchers and I under- stand things don’t change overnight, but we know they are all achievable and everyone from your vet- erinarian to your genet- ics company will need to contribute.
No better way to start a new year than by setting new targets and making sure everyone is on board to help achieve them. APRIL alert
Meanwhile, for research- ers reading this column, I remind you that Aus- tralasian Pork Research Institute Limited has now called for research pro- posals for its first invest- ment round.
The call closes on Feb- ruary 16, 2018 and invest- ment decisions will be made on April 23, 2018.
Successful projects will commence on July 1, 2018.
APRIL, which replaces Pork CRC, is fully mem- ber based, with an initial investment in 2018-2019 approaching $3 million and is actively seeking
new science and creative new ideas.
With the objective of commissioning research by the middle of 2018, ba- sically 12 months before the close of Pork CRC op- erations, the APRIL call
will ensure continuity of the current level of research and support opportunities for relevant researchers during the wind-down.
I wish everyone a safe, happy and prosperous 2018.
www.porkcrc.com.au
Pork CRC sees grainy outlook
KPIs for 2018 and beyond
Indicator
Target
Born alive 13.5 Weaned/litter 12 Weaned/mated sow/year 26
HFC
3.45
Table 1: KPIs for 2018 and beyond.
Pork producers can only determine accurately the true value of grain they grow or buy by using AusScan. To ensure feed cost is minimised, your nutritionist should test all grain bought or intended to be bought.
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Page 2 – Australian Pork Newspaper, January 2018 www.porknews.com.au
As always, grain prices will affect what consumers pay for their bacon and eggs this year and what pork producers COP in their pockets.