The Establishment of Time Standards for Production-Related Activities in a Commercial Swine Farm Using Time Study

Purpose - In modern day commercial swine farming, labor is still an important input with worker efficiency affecting operational and financial performance globally. To add to the literature on work measurement studies, this study was conducted at a 1,200 sow-level commercial swine farm in Laguna province in the Philippines to measure animal production-related tasks relative to time in all sections of the farm. Design/Methodology/Approach - A brief description of the profile of the laborers, farm activities, and labor organization were established so as to illustrate the labor environment of the enterprise. Time study was used to establish the standard working time for 35 animal production-related activities. Findings - Results revealed that the activities with the longest and shortest standard times in the breeding section were semen collection (728.383 sec/boar) and sow feeding (5.943 sec/sow), respectively; weighing weanlings (117.74 sec/piglet) and weighing newborns (9.014 sec/piglet) for the farrowing section; weighing growers (60.929 sec/batch) and medicating piglets (10.459 sec/piglet) for the weaning section; and feeding through conveyor (88.921 sec/sack) and marking “backload” pigs (3.229 sec/pig) for the fattening section. Research Implications - It was concluded that time study as a work measurement technique can be applied to the animal industry, particularly in a commercial swine farm, as a potential tool for performance evaluation, not only of the workers, but of the farm in general. These have implications on efficiency and performance.