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Productive and economic analysis of pigs raised in wean-to-finish and conventional production systems

The pig production model called "Wean-to-Finish" (WF) is considered an alternative to better productive performance, reducing stress to the animals and improvements in logistics. In this system, the piglets are weaned and transferred directly to a WF shed (nursery-grower-finisher), where they remain until slaughter. Aiming to evaluate the productive and economic behavior of pigs housed in the WF system compared to conventional production system (CC), two groups of pigs from the same sow farm, born and weaned in the same week were evaluated. One group was housed in a conventional nursery production system (CC group) and the other in a WF shed adapted (WF group), both in collective pens. For analysis of the average production, average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily weight gain (ADWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. For economic analysis the cost per kilogram of live weight gain was determined. Data were subjected to analysis of variance using the SAS statistical package, previously tested for normality of the residuals using the Shapiro-Wilk test, and the means of groups were compared by the Tukey test (5 %). In the nursery phase ADWG was 0.468 and 0.449, and the FCR was 1.48 and 1.42 for the WF and CC groups respectively. During the growing and finishing ADWG was 0.924kg in the WF group and 0.909 in the CC group. The FCR was 2.41 for both groups, not being statistically different from each other (P>0.05) at different stages of production in the analyzed parameters. In the economic aspect, the WF group had the lowest costs, with a difference of R$ 0.08 per kilogram of live weight gain compared to the CC group. The results of productive performance associated with the economic aspect indicate that the WF system can be a viable alternative in the pig production chain.

reducing stress; logistic; economic analysis


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