A partial-budgeting tool to describe the effect of lactation space and lactation-space management on net revenue in a multi-site production system

Partial budget analysis is an effective production tool to evaluate economic implications of proposed changes to pig production systems. We describe a partial-budgeting tool that estimates the effects of lactation space and lactation-space management on net revenue in a multi-site production system. A partial-budgeting worksheet is linked to an economic model that couples production-system-specific input and prospectively derived research data. A 2600sow multi-site production system is modeled to illustrate the interactions between lactation-space management, weaning age, and whole-system net revenue. The results of these modeling efforts suggest that inadequate lactation space and poor utilization of lactation space substantially restrict net revenue in multi-site pig production. However, decreasing the number of sows scheduled to farrow each week for the purpose of increasing weaning age may not improve profitability. Quantifying the effects of lactation length on weaned-pig value and subsequent reproductive performance enables a clear understanding of the effects of lactation space and lactation-space management on whole-system net revenue.