Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version. If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options. STOCKING DENSITY, PIG WELFARE, AND PRODUCTION PROFITABILITYPublished by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org Citation: Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium, 18-20 May 2005 (Beijing, China) Publication Date 18 May 2005 701P0205.(doi:10.13031/2013.18425)Authors: H. Huang and G.Y. Miller Keywords: Pig production, stocking density, pig welfare, profitability, optimization This study investigates the effect of stocking density on production decisions and profitability of a two-site (nursery and grow-finish) swine facility. The relationship between stocking density and pig performance was evaluated using regression analysis and data from peer-reviewed journal articles. Based on the estimated ADG and ADFI equations, growth and cumulative feed intake functions incorporating the influences of space allowance and group size were mathematically derived. Using a profit maximization model, we found that the optimal pig flow strategy assumes that the system consists of a nursery building and two identical grow-finish buildings and all of the pigs in the nursery flow to the grow-finish buildings in rotation. The optimal days on feed are 60 days for the nursery and 121 days for the grow-finish pigs. The optimal space allowance is at the minimum space allowance levels required for pig welfare considerations in accordance with the European Communities' standard (0.32 m2/nursery-pig and 0.73 m2/finish-pig). The optimal group size is 70 and 100 pigs/pen for the nursery and growfinish pigs, respectively. The optimal market weight is about 130 kg. The optimized wean-tofinish system allocates 18% of space to nursery and 82% of space to grow-finish of 1,700 m2 available to allocate, producing 5,408 marketed hogs a year and generating an annual profit of $101,248. The results suggest that the assumed minimum space allowance is the major influences of the optimization problem. (Download PDF) (Export to EndNotes)
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