Chinese pig producers target sow productivity to save feed

Pig production leaders from China have been highlighting how better productivity in Chinese sow herds would contribute major savings of increasingly valuable feed resources.
From figures quoted by a delegation to the 2010 EuroTier exhibition in Germany, the current national average for breeding herd productivity is only around 13 pigs sold per sow per year.
Delegates calculated that an increase of just two pigs per sow would mean the same annual output of slaughter pigs could be obtained from 6.7 million fewer sows, saving the equivalent of 4 million metric tons of corn for their feed. Increasing to 20 pigs per sow/year offered a cutback of 17.5 million sows with 10.5 million tons of corn saved annually.