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Prairie Swine Centre is an affiliate of the University of Saskatchewan
Prairie Swine Centre is grateful for the assistance of the George Morris Centre in developing the economics portion of Pork Insight.
Financial support for the Enterprise Model Project and Pork Insight has been provided by:
Will Canada Still Produce Pork?
Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2007 | No Comments
The Canadian hog industry is undergoing a period of uncertainty due to the rapid escalation of feed grain prices, the appreciated Canadian dollar and packer consolidation. The pending US Country of Origin Labeling legislation is also threatening the industry’s access to the US. Throughout 2007, producers have seen either negative margins or margins that are weaker than their US counterparts. For these and other reasons, producer attrition is accelerating and producers are assessing their futures in the industry. In this environment, producers are asking themselves whether their businesses can be competitive or not. The overriding issue for the prairie hog industry is that if it is not competitive in this region, why not and where can it be competitive? This paper looks at the current challenges and assesses prospects for the future in the prairie hog industry. The Prairie hog and pork industry is an agricultural success from any economic perspective, including, growth, jobs, incomes and trade. The entire industry in Canada has undergone a period of three years in which it has suffered disproportionate losses relative to US competitors. As a result, the industry now finds itself in a period of rationalization of packing plants and more rapid attrition in producer numbers. The summer 2007 announcement by Olymel that it would reduce its pricing structure in Red Deer will accelerate the attrition in producer numbers on the prairies. Furthermore, the prospects for packing plant closures on the prairies and in Ontario are factors that, again, will involve massive challenges for producers. Lastly, the pending US legislation regarding Country of Origin Labeling has the potential to further reduce pricing in Canada relative to the US. There will be a period of two to three years of industry pressure and reduced production in much of the prairies and the hog regions of Eastern Canada. At the same time, however, the Prairies are in a strong position on two key fronts. First, and most importantly, the region has enormous production capability in feed grains and land available for hog production. The fundamental factors that made Western Canada the number one growth area in North America are still in place and are at the forefront for the future. The key problems that the Prairies face in feed grain competitiveness are policy related, not natural disadvantages. These policy issues can, and likely will, be addressed. Prairie producers will not escape the coming difficulties but they are in a good position to endure it, compared to other areas of Canada. Furthermore, when the difficulties pass, the Prairie model of open marketing has proven it to be the best place to grow and move forward.
Characterisation of the pig acute phase protein response to road transport
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Quarterly Hogs and Pigs 2007
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The real dirt on farming : The people in canadian agriculture answer your questions
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All told, Canadian agriculture is big business: $34.2 billion in annual sales from crops and livestock production.
But the reality is that we’re mostly independent operators, each of us running a small business. It’s tough to describe, because no two farms are the same. As farmers, we ride out the same underlying econimic and societal trends as other Canadian enterprises, or ignore them at our peril.
When the only constant is change, we must be nimble, creative and adaptable – whther it’s what we produce, how we produce it, or how id gets to market.
Before we delve into specific questions about food production, let’s look at key trends in the Canadian farm setting. We hope this provides some context for understanding some of the changes you’re seeing in agriculture.
Blood supply management could lead to more uniform litters
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Therapeutically increasing the uterine blood vessel
density of pregnant sows could be the key to producing
more uniform litters of pigs, so adding greatly to production
efficiency.
This is one of the findings of a three-year study, which
has shown that a specialized population of the mother’s
white blood cells increases blood-supplying tubes at healthy
conceptus attachment sites, but stops the production of
molecules for building the blood delivery system at attachment
sites where the pig embryos are dying.
EVALUATION OF CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR FOGGING SYSTEMS IN PIG FACILITIES
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Structural analysis and haplotype diversity in swine LEP and MC4R genes
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Knowledge about structural variation of candidate genes could be
important to improve breeding selection scheme and preserve genetic
variability in livestock species. Leptin (LEP) and melanocortin-4 receptor
(MC4R) genes are involved in the energetic pathway and are obvious
candidate genes for fatness. By sequencing LEP and MC4R genes in 72
pigs belonging to lean (Large White and Duroc), fat (Meishan and
Casertana) breeds and also Wild Boar, 98 polymorphic sites, of which
91 were novel, were found in the Leptin sequence while only the previously
described mutation was found in the MC4R gene. A total of 18
LEP haplotypes were observed and their distribution was unequal
among the breeds. The phylogenetic analysis showed two haplotype
branches distinguishing between lean and fat breeds.
Opportunities for Co-Product Utilization in Western Canada
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Overall, the markets of swine feed can be divided into two categories, the large volume, low margin diet market such as for grower-finisher pigs and the low volume, higher margin diet market such as for weaned pigs. For each category, specific sets of co-products will be used. The first category focuses more on the traditional market of co-(or by-) products from food or bio-processing. The second category will become an attractive market for the specific fractions created for feed purposes. This paper summarizes this vision and recent findings. The inclusion of co-products in feed will rapidly become economically attractive as the severity of grain shortage become evident. Initially, co-products will become attractive on a cost per tonne basis; their low inclusion rates should not hamper growth performance. Later on, when economics focus shifts more to cost per unit of productivity and less to maximization of growth performance, inclusion rates of these co-products might further increase. Starch fermentation and oil extraction results in these co-products being high in fibre and protein. Results of recent research using wheat DDGS (Widyaratne and Zijlstra 2007) and wheat millrun (Nortey et al. 2006) indicate that these co-products still provide valuable nutrients for swine, but also that their nutrient digestibility is reduced by fibre content. A range of processing techniques can be employed to fractionate crops. Overall, two groups exist, an up-front fractionation process allowing further processing of individual crop fractions and a process that involves the entire crop stock that separates one fraction the crop (as described before). Examples of the first group include dry milling and air classification, etc. Examples of the other group include current ethanol production procedures and oil extraction from canola. Dry separation techniques (dry milling/air classification) are particularly useful for the production of protein-rich fractions from non-oilseed legumes, such as field pea (Dijkstra et al. 2003). The advantages of dry over wet separation techniques are lower equipment and operational costs and the absence of effluents. However wet processing techniques usually result in fraction containing a higher protein or starch concentration. The feed use of value-added fractions further implies that not just the digestible nutrient content of these fractions should be described. Their functional properties relative to animal health, welfare, nutrient management, and pork quality must be considered but such benefits are not so tangible. Consideration of such benefits will ensure that their entire value and potential within commercial swine production can be reached. The rapid advancement of crop fractionation and the proliferation of processing facilities across North America will continue to drastically change the landscape for feedstuffs. In western Canada, the removal of transport subsidies provided a window of opportunity for the use of relatively abundant and affordable feed grains in the livestock industries. The emergence of the bio-fuel industry will place increasing pressure on the price and availability of feed grains, but should reduce the price pressure of protein-rich co-products. As a result, the use of these co-products is becoming rapidly more attractive. These co-products seem to fit now more often in the large volume low margin markets of grower-finisher pig feeds. Pork producers will have to explore these opportunities rapidly to remain competitive in the North America. The high-value crop fractions seem to fit the requirements of weaned pigs and in instances where specific functional attributes may enhance animal health, welfare, nutrient management or pork quality.