Calculating breeding herd feed usage and cost in commercial production systems

The objective of this paper is to describe a production tool for swine producers, veterinarians, and nutritionists to benchmark feed usage and feed cost within gestation, lactation, and gilt development phases of a production system. The model was developed using Microsoft Excel (version 16.0.11328.20438) and includes key variables within the breeding herd affecting feed usage. Data from a commercial production system was used to determine model accuracy as well as demonstrate its use. The results from this production tool provide estimates for feed usage and feed cost within each sub-population of animals in the breeding herd.