Seasonal effects can be separated from other challenges in the pig environment using time series analysis

Abstract

The pig environment can be quantified through the mean performance of a contemporary group (CG), adjusted for systematic and genetic effects (Li and Hermesch 2016). The objective of this study was to use time series analysis to decompose CG estimates into the seasonal, long-term trend and residual components generally observed in time series data. It was hypothesised that seasonal effects can be partitioned from the other environmental challenges that are simultaneously captured in CG estimates of average daily gain.