Improving the efficiency of testing

In the face of an oversupplied world pig market only the most efficient producers will stay in business. By and large these will be the operations that are able to more successfully exploit the genetic potential of their animals. Similarly, only those breeders who are able to demonstrate sustained genetic improvement will sell stock to the smaller number of large producers who are left. Although smaller breeders may feel threatened by the few multinational companies who are investing heavily in molecular technologies, there is no reason why a smaller operation cannot make equally as much progress through attention to detail and greater efficiency. The key to this is to think carefully about what we are doing when measuring performance in pigs, in order to maximise the chances of selecting the genetically superior animal. This in turn will reduce non-genetic differences between pigs and help realise a greater rate of genetic improvement.