The efficient use of facility space for swine production has been a key economic and production issue since the introduction of confinement production facilities. Stocking density decisions have traditionally focused on economically efficient stocking levels accounting for pig performance and facility utilization. However, current animal welfare concerns related to stocking density of pigs in confinement facilities combined with pig flow oriented production systems add new dimensions to the issue.
A pig space allocation model (PSAM) is developed to help analyze the system-wide production and economic impacts of space allocation requirements and to allow for comparison of alternative management interventions to mitigate the effects of these requirements. The system wide economic impacts include asset utilization rates, per unit costs of production and prices received. First, the report provides a background overview of the model and the production assumptions incorporated in the model. The second section provides a detailed users’ guide to developing simulations that can provide insights into alternative management strategies. However, given the ‘average’ nature of the model extreme caution should be used in directly using the model for specific management decisions.
Contact Information:
James Kliebenstein
Iowa State University
Economics Department
Ames, IA 50011
[email protected]
515-294-7111
