By Jack Bosworth, Director, FJ Bosworth & Sons. Published 18 March 2024.
I hope everyone is well.
The forecast is finally looking as if we may have a week of dry weather. It has been a challenging start to Ed’s first spring on the arable here, with very limited opportunities to get onto the land. He has been able to get some contract spreading down and is up to date with spraying and fertiliser, which is no small thing given the conditions.
Optimising the gilt feed plan
Elsewhere, on the pigs, we have been looking to optimise feed plans for gilts during gestation. Alex and Gemma are taking a keen interest in getting the data we need to analyse our current position, and to understand where we can enhance performance to better equip our young breeding stock for consistency and longevity in the herd.
This is the kind of work that does not deliver instant results. It pays off in the next generation of sows and the one after that.
Our targets, in numbers
These are the targets we are working toward for gilts:
| Measure | Target |
|---|---|
| Weight at first service | 160 kg |
| Age at first service | 254 days |
| Weight gain during gestation | Approximately 70 kg |
| Weight moving into farrowing | Approximately 230 kg |
| Allowable body condition loss (excluding 20 to 25 kg of litter and placenta) | 6 to 8 per cent |
Right now, our body condition loss is sitting above the target window, and that is the figure we want to bring back in.
What the most recent batch actually showed
Gilts weaned on 14 March 2024:
- Averaged 215 kg going into farrowing, around 6.5 per cent under our target.
- Averaged 164 kg at weaning.
- Body weight loss across gestation and lactation: 13.73 per cent, excluding average litter and placenta weight.
The 13.73 per cent loss is the figure I am focused on. It tells us, in plain percentage terms, that the gilts are working harder than we want them to be across the cycle.
The current feed plan we are working with
The plan as it stands looks like this:
| Days post-insemination | Feed allowance |
|---|---|
| 0 to 7 | Around 2 kg per day |
| 7 to 50 | Increasing by approximately 35 per cent across that window |
| 50 to 100 | Peak of the curve, up to 3.1 kg per day |
| 100 onwards (pre-farrowing move) | Around 3.0 kg per day |
Amounts are also adjusted along the way according to body condition score, which is currently decided by Alex and Gemma at the unit.
What we want from a few tweaks
Hopefully, some adjustments to the feed plan will allow us to:
- Increase weight at farrowing, closer to that 230 kg target.
- Improve litter size.
- Reduce body condition loss back into the 6 to 8 per cent window where it should sit.
It is the same principle that has worked for us before with parity 2. Small, deliberate changes to feed allocation at the right stage, with the right monitoring in place to see what is actually happening.
I will report back as the data comes through.
About the author
Jack Bosworth is a fourth-generation farmer and Director of FJ Bosworth & Sons, an arable and pig farming business at Spains Hall, Willingale, Essex. The farm has been in the family since 1919, and Jack farms alongside his father Stuart Bosworth, who was named Farmers Weekly Pig Farmer of the Year in 2011. The business is Red Tractor assured and runs an integrated farm-to-fork model, with home-grown cereals milled on site using solar-generated electricity.
You can follow Jack’s articles on fjbosworth.com, or get in touch via the WhatsApp link on the site.
Fourth-generation farmer at Spains Hall, Willingale. Runs the contracting team and writes most of what appears here.