Comparison of Different Styles of Swine Finishing Facilities within a Uniform Production System

Swine originating from one farrowing and nursery source were finished in five different finishing facility types. Three of the facilities were considered new styles and two were older facilities. The total data set included information collected on 46,408 pigs from 25 groups. The three new styles of finisher included a fully slatted, hybrid ventilated facility; a fully slatted tunnel ventilated facility; and a partially slatted naturally ventilated facility. These were also compared to an oldstyle finisher and an outdoor feeding lot. No significant differences were observed in production performance of the three styles of new buildings at the p<0.05 level. Significant differences were found in feed efficiency, days to market and yield among all (new and old) facility types at the p<0.05 level. Average daily gain for the new facilities were found to be significantly different at the p<0.05 level by season of the year. The variation in death loss, feed efficiency and ADG appeared to be relatively consistent between the different styles of finishers. A basic cost analysis shows that the production cost differences between the three styles of new finisher is small and therefore decisions on the type of building should be based more on management preferences than cost savings.