Australian pork a ‘force to be reckoned with’
Australian pork producers can match the EU on costs and is competitive with Canada and the US on reproduction and feed efficiency, according to a Pork CRC report from 2014.
The positive verdict will be drummed home by Roger Campbell, CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork (Pork CRC), on 26 February – the South Australian Pig Industry Day.
‘Recipes for success’
“Our own Pork CRC benchmarking results suggest the best Australian producers are a force to be reckoned with and are willing to share their recipes for success to the industry in general,” he said in a press statement on 1 February.
“Although the Danes and Dutch lead the world in the number of pigs weaned per sow per year (29-30), due to the large numbers of pigs born per litter, several Pork CRC benchmarking participants are matching or getting close to these figures without the extreme litter sizes reported by the Danes and Dutch.
“Our producers are demonstrating there are many ways to enhance the number of pigs weaned per sow per year and are certainly making the most from the sows they have,” he added.
Improving cost effectiveness
Pork CRC commercialisation and research impact manager Charles Rikard-Bell will also deliver an address at the pig day on the innovative AusScan system.
AusScan is a Pork CRC-developed technology that uses infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to check grains against online files to see how it pigs will react to the feed.
“Using near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) to scan grains and upload spectra files to AusScan Online allows rapid determination of in vivo energy values of the grain and hence how pigs will perform – before producers buy the grain,” said Rikard-Bell.
“This breakthrough technology significantly improves the cost-effectiveness of feed formulations and a workshop has been planned for February 2016 to help feed millers, producers and nutritionists optimise their use of AusScan technology.”
