Carefully managing ingredients key to reducing feed costs, says Sask Pork webinar guest

By Bruce Cochrane, Farmscape & Lynn Redl-Huntington

A swine nutritionist with Western Ag Supply says by purchasing low-cost opportunity feed ingredients, feeding according to nutritional requirements and managing feed wastage pork producers can reduce their feed costs and improve their profitability.

"How to Save Money on Your Hog Operations" was the focus of the second webinar in Sask Pork’s 2023 spring seminar series. Dr. Dan Sotto, a swine nutritionist with Western Ag Supply, said that with feed costs making up 65-70 percent of a typical farm’s budget there’s a growing need to make every dollar count.

”In order for producers to become more profitable, we need to manage input costs. Because feed constitutes up to 70 percent of variable costs, any strategy to reduce feed costs and improve feed efficiency can reduce feed costs per pig and improve profitability. We have identified some strategies to reduce feed costs and feed costs per pig. These include ingredient selection. Buying the right ingredients and having flexibility on ingredient use and ability to use opportunity ingredients may reduce feed costs. Reducing particle size may improve feed conversion, consequently reducing feed costs per pig. Feeding gestation sows according to body condition may also reduce feed costs with additional benefits of improvement in performance. We need to have a good estimate of how much feed we are giving the sows to avoid over or underfeeding. Reducing feed wastage in any department in your operation will result in feed cost savings,” explained swine nutritionist Dr. Dan Sotto.

Originally from the Philippines, Dr. Sotto worked in the Philippine feed industry as an Animal Nutritionist for 16 years before coming to Saskatchewan in 2015 to pursue post-graduate studies.  He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Saskatchewan and Prairie Swine Centre in 2019.  He joined Gowans Feed Consulting (GFC) as a Swine Nutritionist in 2018 and later on Western Ag Supply (WAGS) in 2019.  As a Swine Nutritionist, Dr. Sotto works with pig producers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Montana, providing them with animal nutrition and barn management advice with the overall objective of managing their feed cost per pig and improving overall performance and profitability.

The "How to Save Money on Your Hog Operations" webinar can be accessed on-demand on Sask Pork’s YouTube channel.

For more, visit farmscape.ca.