“The finishing success involves following and managing the process as a whole. It is extremely important to follow the daily weight gain, feed conversion and nutritional costs, in a way to make it possible do calculate the costs of produced kilos and evaluate if the balance is profitable. Important: some farmers evaluate only the food costs and end up not considering how this cheap food was converted in weight, getting the false feeling that they made a profit”, explains the veterinarian and commercial technician at Auster Animal, Victor Kuroki.
Yet during the swine nursery, farmers should initiate this phase with animals weighing close to 23 kilos and with 65 days of life, which shows a good initial feed conversion. “it is also essential to pay attention to some other details, such as a detailed sanitary protocol, a proper nutritional program and a good management: including the feeders and pacifiers adjustment, besides following the animal consumption curve. This way the farmers may finish their animals between 120 or 130 kilos until 100 or 110 days.
At the growing, when the farmer needs to achieve the maximum performance of each animal, it is fundamental the pigs have a good consumption of food to convert it in meat. “it is needed to follow the daily weight rhythm, focusing on a bigger food conversion rate, which surpass de 1:1,5 from nursery to 1:2,4 on finishing, causing muscle gain and fat accumulation”, explains Kuroki.
It is necessary to pay close attention to the sanity and the ambience: the farmer must be aware of the vaccines before the finishing step, such as to medicative protocols specifics to this period, especially the ones to protect the animals from enteric and respiratory problems. Regarding ambience, the animals must be placed in well airy and chilly areas with a constant air renewal. The stalls must be frequently clean, with change of water and ditch discharge to avoid the production and accumulation of gases.