Managing Change

As pork producers struggle to recover from months of major losses, management issues and questions take on a new level of importance. When dollars are limited, what do you do and in what order to insure survival and continued recovery of the pork production system?

In my analysis, the sow herd is the first area to refurbish and restore. Producers may have incorporated F2 or F3 basis animals into their herd and now is the time to look carefully at them. You should also look seriously at replacing any sows kept past their normal culling age as quickly as possible. Boars or AI programs need to be looked at and, if necessary, restored to the performance levels used when funding was available. It is important that you have the kinds of animals to sell, that the market requires in return for your management and investment.

The number two area of action in support of the sow herd is in nutrition. Many people made serious cuts in their feed program to stay afloat or at least reduce losses. At the present time, feed costs are very low in relation to three or five year averages. It would therefore be to a producer's advantage to review his feeding program with his suppliers and get it back up to levels that will meet the performance requirements of the herd that he has in place. Feed prices are very favourable toward pork producers right now and it is important that the industry take advantage of this opportunity.

The number three area of action in support of the sow herd is herd health management. During the last 16 months many herd health programs have been reduced, downsized or just not followed. Now is the time to re-establish the herd health program including an inventory of current products used, the needs or reasons for them and an assessment of management changes necessary. Simple things like changing disinfectants to meet changing disease organisms, or the return of the use of footbaths must be re-established.

The fourth area of importance would be the area of equipment renovation. If you can get the above three areas back on track you will want to repair or replace worn out items. The suggestions are: firstly, pig confinement equipment, crates, flooring and pens and secondly, ventilation systems to support the numbers of animals in the facility. Thirdly, repair or replace feed delivery systems and water systems. These may all be major costs and could best be handled after the sow herd is up and running at capacity.

The last area to be restored can actually be started first. It is the ability of your management system to generate the information you need to come to correct decisions. We have all had a very sharp lesson over the last time period of the importance of records and how to use them. Now is the time to make changes necessary to insure that you have the information you need on your herd to make the correct business decision. You may wish to tailor this list to suit your own present situation but it is important that you establish some priorities in your own system.

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