FOR LEN and Jenny Gommers and family, pig farming has been kind to them for a long time.
For Len, 53 years of farming, firstly with his father at Hahndorf and since 1978 at Murray Bridge, South Australia, has taught him many important lessons.
The first and most pertinent is that, diversification is important to ride out the tough times - so cropping and beef cattle also play important roles.
The second lesson is that contented animals perform the best, so the health and comfort of animals in their care is paramount to success.
"Over time pigs have been a very profitable enterprise for us,'' Mr Gommers said. ''I'm not a flash Harry, so the success of our pig production is because I'm either extremely lucky, or we are doing the right things."
From a part-time backyard enterprise, pig production grew steadily for the Gommers to reach their present scale of operation about 12 years ago. They built their grow-out sheds 15 years ago and these were the basis of their expansion and production efficiency.
Sheds that give the pigs protection from the elements, especially from sunburn, yet allow them ample room to move around as social animals, are important for maximising growth. Stringent animal health treatments and inoculations from birth are vital to prevent losses.
The pigs have access to automatic feeders and water, and misters are also installed to cool them during hotter weather. In short the pigs have every comfort they need for contentment.
A measure of the success of the pig operation is that sow conception rates at 85 per cent to 88pc, are at industry-high levels, which cannot not be achieved with an operation that stresses the animals.
Mr Gomers and staff run 350 to 380 sows, producing pigs primarily for bacon production at 70kg to 90kg.
They turn-off about 140 baconers a week, sold to Big River Pork. Any young pigs that fall behind in growth performance are sold at 45-55kg for pork production, mainly through O'Briens.
They run about 50 Landrace sows in a special breeder-replacement unit for AI or naturally mating to one of about 10 boars retained at any one time. Boar semen comes from Sabor and other boars from the Aroora breeding operation, with performance figures playing a big role in selection.
Production is focused on Landrace-Large White sows, because hybrids give better results - up to 80pc of the production sows are this cross.
Duroc boars, suited to bacon production, are used as terminal sires.
The sows are ear-notched for age, and first farrow at 10 to 12 months. They are turned over at 3-3.5 years after seven litters. Sows that fail to conceive are removed from the breeding program.
"With our replacement breeding herd we have plenty of options, so we do not need to carry passengers,'' Mr Gommers said. ''There is currently not the margin in pig production to allow us to carry poor performers."
* Full report in Stock Journal, October 9, 2014 issue.
