Phil Baynes presented an informative and amusing presentation at BPEX outdoor pig clubs in Oxford, Salisbury and Exeter totalling 56 producers. The interactive quiz technology allowed participants to test their knowledge and answer questions such as how much weight does a gilt put on in her first pregnancy? What is the required energy per day for a gestating gilt? and what P2 are we looking for at first farrowing?

The use of the quiz machine was meant as an extra tool to keep the meetings fun but as Phil also added it can be that nutrition, as a subject ,can be quite dull! I don’t think any of the participants would agree though especially with some of the reminders about being in control of your feeding strategies, specifically excess back fat being a bad thing! We know that feed is a large part of our variable costs but not one producer could state the DE in their gilt or sow or lactation rations. It is essential to manage all inputs and how you use them, especially outdoor when the weather so greatly affects intakes,  a reduction of 170g per day for every 1 degree above the comfort zone, and what the sow and gilt does with the food, an extra 0.68kg is needed for maintenance alone when the temperature reduces from 20 degrees to 10.