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Article 3 in a Series of 4
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) are a set of quantifiable measurements companies use to monitor and improve their overall long-term performance. KPI’s vary across industries and can focus on economic as well as production parameters. The proper use of KPI’s allows a company to set strategic objectives and gauge their success against peers in the industry.
The third article in the Key Performance Indicator (KPI) series takes a closer look at the impact of the percentage of unproductive boars per month (% unproductive boars/month), The percentage of collections trashed/week (% collections trashed/week), The percent mortality per month (% mortality/month) and medication costs.
Percent of Unproductive boars/month (% unproductive boars/month):
Reasons a boar may be classified as unproductive include:
- still in training and not cleared for production use
- producing too few doses (low volume, low concentration)
- lower genetic value and not needed to fulfill sales over several weeks
- housed in hospital pen and not being collected
- poor semen quality
In general, if a boars semen quality has not significantly improved over a 6–8-week period, he should be removed from the herd. This includes boars that have fallen out of production as well as new boars being trained for entry into production.
Percent of collections trashed/week (% collections trashed/week):
A trash collection is one that does not meet the quality standards of the stud and is discarded. There are several reasons for a collection to be trashed including, but not limited to: low volume, poor motility, poor morphology, smell or color. This KPI, recorded per genetic line, is calculated dividing the number of trashed collections by the total number of collections and multiplying by 100. Example 10 trashed collections/250 total collections = .04 x 100 = 4% trashed collections. Some KPI’s should be tracked monthly while others, like % collections trashed, are recommended to be tracked weekly. In fact, this KPI carries such importance to the overall health and success of a stud that managers should be aware of even daily spikes in the % collections trashed. Early detection of quality issues is key to solving a minor issue prior to it having a larger and possibly long-term effect on stud performance.
A certain level of trash collections is to be expected in a herd (~2-5%), if no trash collections are being identified this would indicate either the quality standards of the stud are too low or there is an equipment or lab staff training problem present that is preventing the identification of the trash collections. Tracking the reasons, and their prevalence, for why collections are being trashed is very important for pinpointing and correcting the primary issue. For example, if several collections are presented with a higher percentage of distal and proximal droplets it may be indicating the line is being over collected. However, on a particular day some collections across all lines may be trashed for lower gross motility and slight curls to the tail. This could be a process management issue as further investigation may find staff are allowing collections to remain too long in the collection area and causing a cold shock scenario. While each issue is a cause for concern, a different management strategy is required for correcting each of the problems.
Percent mortality/month and Medication costs:
The percentage of mortality’s (either by death or euthanasia) per month, calculated by dividing the amount of mortalities by the total number of animals in the herd and multiplying by 100, provides a quick reference to the health of the herd. In any living population there will be some level of mortality. In a boar stud this is often less than 1% due to the stable nature of a boar stud as well as the lower number of animals per employee found in a boar stud.
A sudden increase in mortality rates is often a sign of acute illness and must be taken very seriously, with any increase in mortality resulting in the immediate notification of the herd veterinarian. The number of euthanized animals must be included when discussing mortality rates. Euthanasia is a proper approach when an animal is unlikely to respond to additional treatment or when an animal is non-ambulatory, unable to rise on its own, or in severe distress. If there is a rise in the number of animals euthanized it is very important to understand the cause of this increase. On one hand it may indicate the presence of a previously undetected illness which requires immediate intervention by the herd veterinarian. However, it could be an indication of the need for additional staff training on early detection. For example, if treatments for lameness are not beginning until after a significant level of swelling or when an animal is no longer placing weight on a hoof, this can be too late for treatment to facilitate a positive outcome. Caretaker staff with proper training will notice an animal being slower to get up at feeding or “favoring” a leg when walking and will assess and provide treatment early, if needed, to provide the best possible outcome for the animal.
Tracking morbidity, the condition of suffering from a disease or medical condition, is equally important for several reasons. For one, if correct and timely treatments are applied, not all cases of sickness will result in mortality, making morbidity rates a more visible measure of the underlying health of a stud. Secondly, high morbidity rates can indicate that a stud is dealing with a chronic illness that has entered the herd previously undetected. This can lead to semen quality issues either from the illness itself, potential associated fevers or as a side effect from the treatments being applied to the animals.
Sudden increases in medication costs can be a bit more difficult to track as veterinary supplies are often purchased in quantities that will last several months. However, most standard operating procedures, as well as veterinary and regulatory procedures, require all medical treatments to be well documented and readily available. Managers, with oversight from the herd veterinarian, will typically review the treatment numbers monthly as part of a valid veterinarian, client and patient relationship. During this review, the number of treatments and the efficacy of these treatments are noted and discussed. If treatment for leg lameness is becoming more prevalent and leading to an increase in euthanasia, there may be housing issues that need to be addressed that are leading to unnecessary injuries. It could also be a staff training issue in cases where employees are not aware of the importance of ensuring all animals are up on all four legs throughout the day. Any sudden increase in mortality or morbidity should be reported to the herd veterinarian immediately.
Discussion:
In addition to monitoring KPI’s, it is equally important for managers to maintain good communication with their lab staff and animal caretakers. Properly trained lab staff often notice subtle changes in the overall semen quality of a herd before it is visible in the weekly numbers. Observant caretakers Identify early changes in individual animal behavior, haircoat appearance and signs of lethargy. It is critical for managers to not only question the staff regarding what they are seeing, but to fully listen to their responses. This is not only for the benefit of your herd and sow farms you may be supplying, but also for the entire swine industry.
Watch for the final article in this series with a focus on quality control, credits issued and cost of supplies per collection and per dose.
