Table 1 outlines the amount of the primary saleable output produced by the different animal enterprises considered in this study at their respective capacities. A simple, production-level example can be seen in the last column of Table 1, which describes the calculation for a typical layer operation. Using the definition of 100 layers per animal unit yields a capacity of one million birds. Assuming each hen yields 0.83 eggs per day implies an annual egg output of 25.2 million dozen eggs. Given an average productive life span of one year per hen yields one million culled hens that must be shipped to slaughter each year.
| Table 1. Capacity and Saleable Output Assumptions by Animal-Confinement Enterprise | |||||||
| Hogs, Finish | Sow, Feeders | Sows, Finish | Steers | Dairy | Broilers | Layers | |
| Animal Unit Capacity | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 1,000 | 10,000 | 10,000 |
| Animals per Animal Unit | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 1 | 0.65 | 100 | 100 |
| Capacity - Animals | 2,500 | 2,500 sows | 312.5 sows | 1,000 | 714 | 1 million | 1 million |
| Output Factor | 250 lbs./ hog | 14.5 pigs/sow @ 50 lbs./pig |
14 hogs/sow @ 250 lbs./hog |
1250 lbs./steer | 21,000 lbs. milk/ cow |
5.2 lbs./broiler | 0.83 eggs/ hen/ day |
| # Growing Cycles/Year | 2.8 | 1 | 1 | 1.2 | 1 | 6 | 1 |
| Output | 7,000 hogs | 36,250 pigs; 825 cull sows |
4,375 hogs; 103 cull sows |
1,200 steers | 15 million lbs.; 236 cull cows |
6.5 million broilers |
25.2 million doz. eggs; 1 million cull hens |
A slightly more difficult example, featuring a farrow-to-finish hog operation, appears in column 4 of Table 1. An operation of 1,000 animal units will be composed of 312.5 sows producing 14 surviving pigs per year:
where the number of growing pigs per animal unit is twice that for sows because growing pigs spend about one-half of their lives weighing less than 55 pounds, the weight threshold for counting swine as an animal unit. Total outputs include 4,375 finished hogs sold and, given a typical cull rate of 33 percent, 103 cull sows sold.
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