PIC Australia has recently completed the installation of Osborne Industries’ Feed Intake Recording Equipment (FIRE) Feeders pig performance testing system at PIC Australia’s Genetic Nucleus herd in Grong Grong, New South Wales, Australia.
The FIRE Feeders were installed at Grong Grong to test the performance of Genetic Nucleus level boars. “We are delighted to be able to use the FIRE System to capture factual data and use it for improving the accuracy of the estimated breeding values in the genetic improvement program. We congratulate Osborne on its performance as a key supplier to PIC Australia,” reports Paul O’Leary, CEO of PIC Australia.
FIRE Feeders automate the data collection of feed intake and the weight of each meal an animal consumes. Each FIRE Feeder is equipped with an antenna which reads the inpidual Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag, thus identifying each inpidual animal. The information collected by the FIRE Feeders is then sent to the on-farm computer program database. Pigs, sheep and goats have been successfully tested with FIRE Feeders and more
than 1,200 are in use in the US, the UK, China, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Germany, Canada, and now Australia.
PIC Australia Technical Officers, Lucinda Brown and Tim Headon, have been closely monitoring and maintaining the FIRE Feeders and will be using the data provided by the FIRE System to further improve the estimated breed- ing values in the genetic improvement program. When questioned about how the system will benefit PIC Austra- lia, Tim replied: “PIC Australia already has the best genetically advanced boars and gilts available to producers and this added technology can only improve on this.”
PIC Australia is part of a multinational organization that is recognized as the world’s largest and most extensive, technologically advanced pig breeding company. FIRE Feeders have been installed in three PIC locations: PIC Canada, PIC USA, and now, PIC Australia. Australia has a 100% closed swineherd; no live animals or semen can be imported into the country. There are approximately 295,000 sows in Australia.
FIRE Feeders are marketed and installed by Osborne Industries, Inc., a persified developer and manufacturer of advanced livestock management equipment and custom-engineered systems. Osborne Industries, Inc. is located in Osborne, Kansas, USA. For more information about Osborne’s pig performance testing system, please contact us today.
