Joe Blackstone of Midland Pig Producers is one those who, with his team, was prompted to review what they do. He said: "We’ve recently made an improvement from 11 to 12 piglets weaned per litter and the event prompted us to check with the nutritionist that the sows’ nutrition is correct for the amount of piglets we are weaning now.

"Also, the discussion about making sure sow weight loss during lactation is no more than seven per cent was a good reminder for us to weigh sows as they enter and leave the farrowing house, so we can monitor weight and adjust diets if needed. We’ve done that at times in the past but will now try to do it regularly."

Mr Blackstone added it was also very useful to see speaker John Richardson’s physical and financial figures.

He said: "It gave us a view of how our unit compares to the rest of the industry, as well as benchmarking against other Midland Pig units."

The events highlighted practical aspects of pig management at every stage of production, from insemination through to sale, which will make a positive impact on the pig meat output for every square metre of a unit.

Presentations and podcasts of the speakers at the events are available on the BPEX web site.