Innovation keeps Australian pork industry competitive

Australian pork producers are competitive with most of the European Union on cost and with Canada and the USA on reproduction and feed efficiency. That’s the encouraging message from the Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork (Pork CRC).

While admitting it was difficult to match USA and Canada on cost, due to their relatively low-cost grain and heavier carcasses, which resulted in low feed and overhead costs per unit of pork produced, Pork CRC CEO Roger Campbell said Australia’s pork industry is in a good position and has the capacity to further improve its financial and physical business indicators.

Campbell will present the latest benchmarking results during his opening address at the South Australian Pig Industry Day on 26 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.

“I congratulate them for their on-farm ingenuity and for adopting much of the world-class R&D that’s emerged from Pork CRC via our research partners,” said Dr Campbell.

One such innovator, Victorian pork producer Tom Smith, will also speak at the event, outlining the practical changes he and his sons have made to optimise breeding herd performance.

Pork CRC Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact Charles Rikard-Bell will deliver an address titled ‘Making your feed grain work harder for you before you buy or use it, with AusScan’.

Pork CRC research developed AusScan — the world’s first in vivo energy values for cereal grains and reactive lysine values for ‘heat damaged’ canola and soybean meal using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).

Pork CRC has a business agreement with UK company Aunir, which now makes AusScan NIRS calibrations available online.

According to Dr Rikard-Bell, Australian pork producers, feedmills and laboratories are increasingly embracing the initiative and connecting to AusScan Online.

“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,” he said.

A workshop has been planned for February 2016 to help feed millers, producers and nutritionists optimise their use of AusScan technology. The AusScan NIR workshop will be held from 2–5 pm on 18 February at the Camperdown campus of University of Sydney’s Veterinary Science Conference Centre.

Speakers and topics will include Ivan Ward of Agri-Torque (‘Practical application of NIR and data management’), Tony Edwards of ACE Livestock Consulting (‘How best to utilise energy values in your operation’) and Chris Piotrowski of Aunir UK (‘The future of NIR spectroscopy — poultry and swine’).

If you are interested in attending, you can register your interest with Rebecca Smith at Pork CRC; tel 08 8313 7743 or email rebecca.smith@porkcrc.com.au.