Attack feed wastage: Australian guide offers ways to reduce an expensive problem

摘要

Strategies to minimise feed wastage have been developed in Australia after an on-farm investigation suggested that 7 out of every 10 herds in the country wasted more than one-tenth of the meals or pellets meant to be eaten by their pigs. The probe had also underlined the value of an efficient, wellmanaged feeding system, by revealing important differences between units for the degree of wastage suffered. The main points from the strategies are shown in the accompanying panel. They were compiled bySara Willis, pig nutrition consultant with the Agency for Food and Fibre Sciences at Queensland's Department of Primary Industries, who conducted the studies to investigate how much feed was being wasted within the grow-out section on a range of units. "Wastage is difficult to detect, yet it contributes significantly to high costs of production," she comments. "A pig only has to spill 80 grams of feed per day, or the equivalent of 1 teaspoonful per hour, to account for a 5 percent difference in the total amount wasted or a 6 percent difference in feed conversion.