Hog producers thinking about feed are often like teenage boys choosing a first car: they focus on raw power rather than efficiency.
However, farmers should step back from their focus on high feed conversion rates and think instead about the duller concept of cost per pound of gain, a major American producer told the recent Manitoba Swine Seminar.
“Producers need to work with their nutritionist to make absolutely certain they’re getting the best cost of gain, not necessarily the best feed conversion,” said Jim Moody, the Hanor Company’s vice-president for finishing and marketing.
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In the United States, producers rely mostly on corn for their feed rations’ energy component, even though rising corn prices has made it an expensive feed grain. However, farmers stick with corn because it has an excellent feed conversion ratio.
Moody said his company analyzed economic returns and decided to substitute some corn with other feed sources. Feed conversion worsened to 2.73 from 2.55, but returns improved.
“We have decreased feed conversion by 20 points, but our cost per pound of gain is now 19.5 cents or a 1.2 cents per pound improvement over having the better feed conversion,” Moody said.
Jane Goodridge of FeedRite in Winnipeg made a similar point, saying farmers have many misconceptions about feed formulation and believe many myths about feed.
For instance, many farmers oversupplement vitamin E, which is costly, and sometimes overdo other supplements that block each other.
“Beware of adding unnecessary costs to diets based on old beliefs that have not stood the test of time or missing out on savings opportunities due to what you are used to seeing in the past,” she said.
