Farmscape for June 21, 2013

The U.S. based National Pork Board says a new sow stall conversion calculator will allow pork producers to assess the economic implications of any major changes they are considering in the operation of their farms.
Earlier this month, as part of World Pork Expo in Des Moines, the National Pork Board unveiled a new sow stall conversion calculator.
Sherrie Niekamp, the director of swine welfare with the National Pork Board, says the tool was developed to assist pork producers in assessing the economics of any changes made to their operations.

Clip-Sherrie Niekamp-National Pork Board:
Actually the name of the tool is a bit misleading because it's more than just a housing conversion piece.
It's really a tool that helps producers model what the financial impacts of any sort of change in their sow farm might be.
That could range from changing the diet, it could be a change in weaning age or it could be either changing to a different type of housing system from what you're currently using or just a financial investment in remodeling your current facilities.
What the tool does is it allows producers to enter their current information for their current system and it allows them to enter information of changes in either production numbers or cost or loan numbers for what they anticipate the change to be.
What it does is it generates the cash flow sheets and the cost per pig price that often times financial lenders will want to see and review as you come in and talk with them about your financial needs.
It also helps producers demonstrate to their market place what some of the cost anticipation or cash flow needs might be if they are being asked to change or to move to a different type of management system within their market place.

For more information on the sow stall conversion calculator visit pork.org/sowhousing.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council