Interactions of management and animal performance in a swine feedlot

The factors of feed efficiency, growth rate, carcass trim at slaughter, amount of antibiotic treatment, and death rate were compared among groups of pigs fed ("finished") in an open-front feedlot in Kansas. The factor having the greatest influence on performance was the month of entry of the pigs into the feedlot. Carcass trim at slaughter was greater in groups wherein each pig was given more than 4 ml of antibiotic than in groups wherein less than 4 ml of antibiotic was given to each pig. Death rates of pigs that remained in the feedlot longer than 150 days were nearly twice those of pigs that had been sent to slaughter before 150 days.