Page 14 - Pork Newspaper - February 2018

Vital support for drought-ready farmers
FARMERS and FEED MILLERS
SFMC A FeedSafe Accredited
FOR ALL YOUR REQUIREMENTS OF:
Soya beans used in our meals are NOT genetically modified!
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We use whole soya beans not gradings to supply you with a quality meal
NSW Department of Primary Industries is committed to working closely with farmers, industry and stakehold- ers in delivering a $300 million drought package to ensure NSW is bet- ter prepared for future drought conditions.
DPI’s Rural Assistance Authority director John Newcombe said the de- partment has a range of services available to help NSW farmers better pre- pare for adverse condi- tions.
“Planning for the long- term and adapting to change is an effective way farmers can prepare for drought and other down- turns, Mr Newcombe said.
“Some of the DPI ser- vices include the Farm Innovation Fund, Farm Business Skills Program, fodder transport subsi- dies and a Rural Resil-
ience Program.
“The Rural Resilience
Program provides per- manent support workers contracted to meet spe- cific farming community needs related to adverse events.
“The Farm Innovation Fund provides long-term, low-interest loans up to $250,000 for permanent on-farm infrastructure in- cluding drought prepara- tion measures.
“In the last financial year alone, RAA ap- proved 331 loans totalling over $53 million.”
Mark and Mischelle Schiller, producers from the Hay region, have invested in a pipe- line and stock watering system utilising a loan from the Farm Innova- tion Fund.
Mr Schiller, who runs Merinos and Dorpers on 12,000ha, said af- ter 10 years of drought, two floods and another drought their wool enter- prise now has greater wa- ter security.
“It’s a very reassuring feeling and means we don’t have to move or sell stock because of a lack of stock water in a pad- dock anymore,” Mr Schil- ler said.
“Access to the pipeline will more than pay for itself through improved farm efficiency.”
The Farm Business Skills Professional Devel- opment Program offers a 50 percent subsidy for up to $9000 per farm busi-
ness for vocational train- ing, farm business plan- ning and risk management skills.
With 118 registered courses, the program ap- proved more than 420 ap- plications to the value of $850,000 in the 2016/17 financial year.
Mr Newcombe said these educational pro- grams help farmers learn to manage their business more effec- tively – working with
nature, not against it. “Partnering with farm- ing communities to strengthen networks, share information and increase resilience is a priority in rural NSW as farmers continue to man- age seasonal conditions,”
he said.
For more information
on services, subsidies and assistance measures, visit dpi.nsw.gov.au/cli mate-and-emergencies/ droughthub
2018 Alltech Global Feed Survey – world feed production over one billion metric tonnes
☛ from P13
primarily in regions
such as Latin America, Africa and Europe.
This global downward trend has generally been felt by the industry for some time as more con- sumers turn to white meats such as pork, chicken and fish.
Overall aquaculture feeds showed a slight increase, particularly in the European and Asia- Pacific regions.
China reported a de- cline of 5 percent this year and in 2016, which could be linked to gov- ernment controls on feeding practices and food safety, such as the
administration of anti- biotics.
Brazil, Chile and Peru led the increase in pro- duction in Latin Amer- ica, as did Iran in the Middle East.
Carp leads the produc- tion of aquaculture feed, followed by shrimp/ prawns and tilapia.
Catfish, salmon and trout also ranked on the species feed indicator, though to lesser degrees.
The pet food sector had a strong year across all regions.
Asia-Pacific’s pet food production increased by 13 percent, with China, Thailand and Taiwan as the primary contributors to the increase.
Europe increased by 17 percent, with Rus- sia, the Czech Republic, Romania, Poland and Hungary producing over 580,000 metric tonnes of additional pet food.
Uruguay, Ecuador, El Salvador, Chile and Ar- gentina represent almost all the pet food produc- tion growth in Latin America, combining for 725,000 more tonnes.
“The Alltech Global Feed Survey provides valuable data and in- sights on the health of the feed industry and agriculture as a whole,” Connolly said.
“As such, we will con- tinue to offer the find- ings of the feed survey
freely in an effort to demonstrate the signifi- cance of the animal feed industry in feeding a growing global popula- tion, sustainably and af- fordably.”
The Alltech Global Feed Survey has illu- minated some intrigu- ing points that can play a role in analysing the economies of agribusi- ness and indeed of the world.
To discover more data from the 2018 Alltech Global Feed Survey, in- cluding the results book- let, an interactive global map and a presentation of the results, please visit go.alltech.com/ alltech-feed-survey
Pig Farm Perspective
by Bruce the brainy pig
WHAT is the ideal parity at which to re- place my sows?
Of late, low sow prices, in conjunction with high feed prices (particularly in northern Australia) have led to many pro- ducers inquiring about the ideal age to replace sows.
An interesting study out of Iowa State Uni- versity was published in the Journal of Swine Health and Production in 2017 assessing the economic effect of sow retention in a US breed- to-wean system.
This study used data collected from 2001- 2014 from 17 breed-to- wean farms in the US Midwest and included both purebred and crossbred sows.
Economic analysis
differed slightly to most Australian systems, with the price per weaned pig sold being the key driver of cash flow.
Both fixed and vari- able costs were taken into account.
A short summary of the key results is out- lined below:
• Pigs born alive in- creased until parity 3 and then decreased until parity 10.
• Systems where sows were replaced after parity 4 were shown to produce the most saleable weaned pigs, however this was not the parity distribution that had the lowest cost per weaned pig.
• The parity distribu- tion that most cost-effec- tively produced weaned pigs and produced the greatest return over to-
tal costs was when sows were replaced after par- ity 6.
• Interestingly, pre- weaning mortality was lowest in this study for older sows (parity 6-10). This is different to what is seen in many Australian herds, where older sows tend to have increased pre-weaning mortality due to overlays.
• Although older sows produced and sold slightly fewer pigs per year than the younger sows, the cost of pro- ducing weaned pigs was lowest when sows were replaced between pari- ties 5 and 9.
Interestingly, at the time of this study, the in- dustry average replace- ment parity for sows in the US was 3.1-3.7.
Using the costs pro-
vided with the study, this indicated producers could be losing between $US0.42 per weaned pig when replacing sows at industry averages rath- er than replacing sows where the return over costs was higher.
In situations where feed prices were low, replacing sows between parities 6 and 9 showed the greatest return on investment.
However, in situations where feed prices were high, replacing sows be- tween parities 5 and 6 was the most profitable option.
Given the current Aus- tralian industry situ- ation, this study can provide some assistance to producers as to when sows should be replaced.
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Page 14 – Australian Pork Newspaper, February 2018
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