Did you know that genetic suppliers in the pig business are responsible for a large part of the result? An enormous important link at the start of the chain, together with the AI station. As a pig farmer, it is therefore interesting to invest in this in order to be able to work in a more targeted manner. Fascinating matter; you see what your animals can perform. And every time you are amazed about their performance.
Wondering how you as a pig farmer can improve your genetic results?
By collecting reliable data. If you share data from both the AI centre and the pig farmer and link them up with each other, interesting connections arise. By following the boars at the AI centre as much as possible, you quickly track down animals that stand out negatively and positively. You can follow the farrowing results; how many offspring the boar gives, how many males and females, what deviations there are. Analyzing sperm and looking at the lifespan: is the sperm on day one better than on day five? Using the collected data, the results improve with at the farm and the AI centre. Pig farmers get a better product and the AI centre a better quality.
BoarMonitor
This method of data collection is done by the AI Centre "Klasse Ki" in the Netherlands together with AgriSyst under the name "BoarMonitor". Currently twenty-four farms are connected. How does that work? Take, for example, one boar that spreads thirty doses in one day. The affiliated farmers register the name of the boar, data of the cover are recorded and fed back to the donor boar. If you do that every week, you have analyzed all information about the father about various clients. Suppose that one customer is not satisfied and the other customers do, then an analysis of his performance can be shown via the "boar card".
Benchmark per quarter
Added value for companies is that the shared data yield a benchmark per quarter. Performance of affiliated companies is compared with the total market. That is interesting, especially when there are big differences to see. By following up on the mating of the animals, you have a complete feedback; you can even look back with the help of the slaughter results. That is how laboratory results and farm performance are visible. Informative data, with which processes are improved and on which important management decisions are taken.
Sharing data and linking in confidence
Sharing data in all openness is of course a question of trust; together you make the appointment of who the owner of the data is and what is done with it. The AI supplier and the pig farmer are both vulnerable to this. If everything goes well, that is great, but even if results are disappointing, it can immediately be taken advantage of. People in the laboratory who detect abnormalities can immediately intervene with the latest available data from the database. It also happens that the boar performs poorly, while the semen is good. Such a thing was not possible before, data on semen abnormalities were simply not available. Now you can start a new process based on these data and train people in the lab to improve production results.
Future music
Ideally, we would expand the databases further and allow more companies to participate. In this way, decision taking is more reliable, on fertility or number of pigs per sow. In the long term, a track & trace system is also possible: What sells the supermarket and what does the consumer eat? That is more than fantastic!