DON'T judge a pig contract by its top price. Instead, seek out the one that matches production most accurately, advises Howard Cross, chief executive of Yorkshire Farmers Livestock Marketing.

Speaking at a Boroughbridge farmers' meeting, he said: "It is the figure at the bottom right-hand corner of the sales sheet that counts."

Every pig farm was unique and choosing the right contract to match the pigs was difficult for an individual. But with the use of computers, producers could see the potential profit, or loss, from a contract without ever signing on the dotted line. The secret, he said, was to create a "virtual contract" using the pig unit's own historical data.

The Pigibank programme, developed by Yorkshire Farmers' pig producer Henry Cressey, had already shown that some high-price deals brought only short-term benefit and not the required, secure 12-month healthy cash flow.

The programme demonstrated just how profitable a particular contract would be for a unit. It threw up dozens of different contacts and identified the one most suited to the type of pig produced.

Updated: 09:37 Tuesday, April 22, 2003