Speaking at the workshop Dr Jagger said,“Starter feed for pre-weaning piglets is small proportion of all feed costs at 4 per cent and the improved growth post-weaning means it is well worth it.

“One trial showed that piglets eating 4.55kg each of starter feed are worth 31.21 more per pig, as margin over feed, than piglets eating just 3.89kg each.“

This equated to a saving of 3266 per tonne of overall feed costs, because the pigs’ feed conversion efficiency, growth rate and value at slaughter were improved, without intakes of grower feed having to increase significantly in the later stages.

Steve continued to show how priorities change at different stages between birth and slaughter.

“It is important to know the growth curve for your particular unit. For, example, there are major differences in dietary requirements in the late finishing stage, especially when taking pigs to higher slaughter weights, so producers could consider a late finishing diet.

“We should also be feeding pigs according to current, achieved performance at each stage. High specification diets can have a lot higher potential than is actually being achieved. Once you’ve assessed requirements you can adjust the feeding programme, try an alternative diet or maybe increase the number of diets. The aim is to reduce oversupply of nutrients to therefore reduce feed costs and improve efficiency.“

Steve concluded with how important it is to measure growth performance and feed usage. “There should be a continual cycle of measurement and improvement.“