Oct 2023 - Journal Final - Flipbook - Page 12
Business
How much can you invest
TO PREVENT DISEASE?
Jim Marzolf
Executive Vice President
Pipestone Business
Ben Franklin is credited with
saying, “An ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure.” The
proverb holds true today and
is particularly relatable for pork
producers.
A disease event has the
protentional to increase your
production costs, reduce your
production ef昀椀ciency and
HIGHER
PRODUCTION COSTS
Jim Marzolf is a Minnesota native who graduated from the University
of Wisconsin with a B.S. in Animal Science; followed by an Executive
MBA from Purdue University. Jim brought his experience in livestock
production, 昀椀nance and business management to PIPESTONE in 2019
and serves as Executive Vice President of Pipestone Business.
Measuring the frequency of
your disease events can help
you decide how much to invest
you invest to attempt to 昀椀x the
problem? You might start by
calculating the payback period
of your investment. The payback
period is the number of years
required to recover the original
cash invested. In this situation,
we will divided the capital
invested per wean-to-昀椀nish pig
space by the disease savings per
space to determine the years
LOST PRODUCTION
EFFICIENCY
LOST MARKET
OPPORTUNITY
Based on these observations,
the total cost of a disease
challenge (like PRRS) may be as
much as $15.00/pig. Obviously,
the type of disease and severity
will signi昀椀cantly in昀氀uence the
昀椀nancial impact.
> Impact on mortality
costs may be as much as
$4.00/pig.
> Impact on average
daily gain may be as
much as $4.00/pig.
> Impact on load
uniformity (% CV) may
be as much as $0.50/pig.
> Impact on animal
health costs may be as
much as $3.00/pig.
> Impact on feed
conversion may be as
much as $3.00/pig.
> Impact on target
market weights may be
as much as $0.50/pig.
increase your lost opportunity
in the wean-to-昀椀nish phase
of production. At Pipestone
Business, we offer information
systems like FarmStats and
FarmBooks to help you measure
and benchmark your production
and 昀椀nancial performance
respectively. Our team has
studied that data and quanti昀椀ed
the possible 昀椀nancial impact of
disease events at the farm.
12 | PIPESTONE JOURNAL
to shut out disease. If history
suggests that your farm will break
with disease in 1 out of 2 pig
groups (50% chance), you may
be more motivated to invest in
solving your health issues than
when the frequency is only 1 out
of 5 pig groups (20% chance).
If you know a frequent disease
challenge continues to cost you
$15.00 per pig, how much should
required to return the original
investment. The disease savings
per space is the sum of the
disease cost per space multiplied
by the probability of disease
mitigation. In other words, you
are estimating your probability of
success in shutting out disease
once you make the investment.
