Role of veterinary management in increasing pig breeding efficiency: a methodological approach

The aim of this research was to determine the effects of different factors of production (farm management strategy, veterinary management, physical farm conditions, and breeding technology) on the performance of Hungarian pig breeding farms. Performance is defined in a broad sense, reflecting the complexity of pig breeding, taking into consideration technological and economic indices. According to our hypothesis a direct, quantifiable stochastic relation can be shown between management strategy, veterinary practice management, construction and building engineering characteristics of plants, breeding technology and the performance of farms. The data for the analysis were acquired by a direct question survey of more than 130 Hungarian pig breeding farms. Utilising these data, different indices were created for each farm with the purpose of information compression. Based on these indicators, a series of linear regression equations was set up to describe the relationship between independent (exogenous) variables, such as management strategy, intervening causal variables (such as the piglet rearing technology and veterinary practice management) and the performance, as the dependent variable. This simultaneous equation model was tested using Mplus® software. The results serve as quantitative, statistical evidence for the effect of management practice in general, and veterinary management in particular, on the performance of pig breeding farms. This can be considered as clear proof of the economic importance of veterinary management.