The non-productive days of gilts or sows, or the days when they are neither pregnant nor lactating, spell the difference between profits and losses in pig production, according to experts of the Livestock Research Division of the Philippine Council for Agriculture.

They said in a press release issued by the Department of Science and Technology on the project entitled "Monitoring of Swine Production Performance in the Philippines" that awareness among Filipino pork producers of the economic importance of non-productive days is a big step in improving efficiency in swine production that could lead to an industry more competitive in the world market.

Non-productive days are when the pigs are at rest after a long lactation period and not as productive as other animals. In the average reproductive cycle of pigs of 150 days, the animal has around seven days to come to heat and be mated, 114 days for gestation, and 29 days for lactation, the experts said.

If the cycle in the herd exceeds 150 days, the difference is considered as the non-productive days of the farm.

Having a long non-productive period is not good, as it increases production costs, they said, adding that feeds alone will cost a farm P50 per sow per non-productive day- that is, for a 100-effective sow level operation, a loss of P5,000 a day.

Overall, the farm loses roughly P160 per sow for each non-productive day to include opportunity cost of the animal.

An analysis of the 2004 swine performance in the Philippines showed that non-productive days ranged from five to as long as 65 days. This is equivalent to P800-P 10,400 per effective sow per day.

Non-productive days are most commonly recorded among repeat breeders; sickly and old sows; gilts/sows that are bred but did not get pregnant; breeders that had abortion, premature deliveries, long dry periods and low production potentials; and culled sows waiting to be sold, the experts added.*

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