Feed conversion rates are important to record

In pig farming one of the most important economic traits in pig production to record is efficient feed conversion, but in the UK breeders are not recording it correctly. Ed Sutcliffe a geneticist and technical director of pig-breeding company ACMC, has told a meeting of Northamptonshire Quality Pig Producers’ Association at Moulton College, near Northampton. That Feed conversion rates (FCR) are more important than recording the number of pigs born or growth rate. He demonstrated that an improvement of one standard deviation in feed conversion (equivalent to about 0.4 FCR points) could be worth as much as UK£18. 52 (US$28.822) per pig, assuming daily feed intake remained the same. Read more ...