A Markov decision sow model representing the productive lifespan of herd sows

A Markov decision sow model has been developed to represent the productive and reproductive lifespan of herd sows. This model precisely describes the herd structure at equilibrium based on actual farm data. Model outputs are the herd structure at equilibrium, and technical and economic indexes. Validation has been performed by comparing observed and simulated outputs from specific farm data. A complementary validation using a statistical χ 2 test based on Pearson's statistic is proposed to compare herd distributions at equilibrium. The model is intended to be used by farmers and runs on micro computers.