RAPIDLY rising energy costs are sapping the profitability of our pig industry, impacting upon better returns from improving herd performance. Now the British Pig Executive has joined with Farmex Ltd of Reading to fund a study of electricity consumption on a number of commercial pig farms.

The work is part of the BPEX overall strategy aimed at reducing the cost of production.

Hugh Crabtree, Director of Farmex, said: "It is probably 30 years since any detailed work has been carried out to look at consumption patterns and levels. After feed, energy is one of the most important costs for producers.

"Cutting fuel bills by the equivalent of 0.5p per kg is worth more than £3m a year to the industry. The latest data is mainly derived from experimental sites and therefore is not reflecting what is happening down on the farm.

"We often ask ourselves why do the ventilation and heating systems of two apparently identical buildings on the same site operate differently with one consuming considerably more power than the other?

"The project is studying the detailed make up of power use, we want to know how much each piece of equipment uses, where it is believed improvements are possible these are to be implemented and monitored so the outcome can be reported."

BPEX Director of Pig Industry Development Mark Wilson said: "This is not about just knocking pounds off electricity bills. It is about giving producers an indication as to where their costs should be and demonstrating achievable wins, not in a laboratory but on real working farms."

Additional expertise is being brought to the project by FEC Services of Stoneleigh (formerly the Farm Energy Centre).

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