How two concurrent pandemics put a spoke in the wheel of intensive pig production

Optimizing vertically integrated pork production supply chain: A Lagrangian heuristic approach

Pork stands out as the most extensively produced and consumed meat globally. With advancements in technology, genetics, and management, the structure of the pig supply chain has transformed from the traditional birth-to-slaughter raising method to incorporate four primary specialized operations: breeding, farrowing, nursery, and fattening. Fattening, constituting approximately 70% of a market pig's entire life cycle, heavily relies on resources, notably in feed consumption. Despite the integration of feed production with pig farming in modern industrial setups through farming contracts, separate decision-making processes for production planning in both stages often result in overall inefficiency. This research proposes an optimization-based methodology to plan production for a vertically integrated setting of three supply chain echelons: a feed mill, fattening farms, and a slaughterhouse. Key coordinated decisions include creating production plans for specific feed formulations at the feed mill and organizing farming cycles at fattening farms to meet the demand of the slaughterhouse The aim is to optimize pig growth while minimizing the overall costs. The methodology includes a mixed-integer linear programming model for the pig supply chain, and a Lagrangian heuristic as method to make coordinated production plans. Computational experiments were conducted using diverse case-study data based on pig supply chains in Thatland. Compared with the results using a commercial software, Lingo's Simplex method, our proposed heuristic could find optimal solutions quicker for smaller problem instances and produce more effective feasible solutions within limited time frames for larger scenarios.

The importance of pigs' castration strategy on carbon footprint of feed intake, nitrogen and phosphorus efficiency under different management conditions

The environmental impact of livestock production is under scrutiny nowadays and is being situated both on a global level and local level. On a global level, the global warming potential (GWP) of meat production is criticised. On a local level, the excretion of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) is of concern as excess nutrients may lead to water eutrophication and soil acidification. The ERA-NET project SuSI evaluated if immunocastration may act as an ecologically, socially and economic more sustainable alternative compared to pork production with surgical castrates (SCs) and boars (BOs). Here, we report the environmental impact of immunocastrates (ICs) vs SC and BO, based on four trials carried out by European SuSi partners. More specifically, we aimed to compare IC with SC and BO in terms of GWP, N and P excretion per kg of pork production and test if this differed between experiments. There was an interaction between trial and sex category (P_{Trial × Sex category} < 0.005) for all environmental sustainability parameters. Surgical castrates performed worse (higher carbon footprint of the feed intake, N and P excretion, lower N and P efficiency) compared to IC and BO, but the size of the effect was trial dependent. Immunocastrates scored intermediate, with mostly no significant differences from BO in most trials, but with significantly better values compared to SC. Over trials, the carbon footprint of the feed intake (land use change inclusive) per kg lean meat gain in the growing-finishing phase was 9-16% lower for IC vs SC and 9-22% lower for BO vs SC. Nitrogen efficiency of IC and BO was 7-10% and 9-14%, respectively, higher compared to SC. Phosphorus efficiency of IC and BO was higher than that of SC by 6-14% and 9-17%, respectively. Per kg of lean meat gain in the growing-finishing phase, IC excreted between 14 and 19% less N and between 14 and 24% less P than SC. For BO, it was between 14 and 27% less N and between 14 and 31% less P than SC. Differences between trials were larger than differences between castration strategies and trial design may have amplified the observed effects. Improving feed efficiency, adapting the feed to the needs of the animal (avoiding excess nutrients) and choosing low-impact ingredients are key for improving the environmental sustainability of pig production. Ending physical castration is another step to attain this goal.