What does SPI mean in FARMING & AGRICULTURE

The SPI calculation requires four key pieces of data - total number of sows, number of pigs born alive in a year, number of pigs weaned in a year, and the mortality rate between birth and weaning. These numbers then are then used to calculate the average live born and weaned piglets per sow per year.

An ideal SPI score would be 30+ live born pigs per sow per year, and 28+ weaned piglets per sow per year. Higher scoring indicates better animal productivity, cost-efficiency and herd health.

Factors that can influence SPI include genetics, nutrition, environmental conditions, farm management practices and breeder behavior. Properly managing these factors can help ensure optimal animal performance for increased productivity.

To improve your SPI you should focus on improving genetics selection strategies as well as nutrition levels to support fertility rates. Other good strategies include monitoring the health status of your herd with regular check-ups from your veterinarian; providing ample space for sows; ensuring clean bedding material; controlling diseases through vaccination; reducing stress due to transportation or mixing unfamiliar animals; proper heating temperature range during winter months; providing shade in summer months; creating separate pens for lactating sows; limiting group sizes to avoid overcrowding; minimizing handling or noise stress around farrowing time; practicing good biosecurity policies around any new stock entering the farm; etc.

Monitoring your herd’s health is critical for optimizing their performance which plays an important role in overall farm productivity - including increasing impact to your bottom line via increased output due to fewer losses from disease or poor management practices. It also helps you keep track on your breeding program effectiveness and fertility rates supporting the goal of achieving a high Sow Productivity Index (SPI).

Herd evaluations should ideally take place quarterly – every 3 months or more frequently if needed – with routine vaccinations being administered throughout the lifespan of each animal. In addition to conducting regular physical exams on all breeding stock at least twice yearly by a qualified veterinarian you also need to monitor feed consumption levels for any abnormalities that may indicate an issue with general health or wellbeing of individual animals within your herd.