Better Pork - October 2002By ROBERT IRWIN
The term "factory farm" is being bandied about more frequently as nutrient management laws come to the forefront. But there is little to differentiate factory farms from family farms as far as farmers were concerned, as we found in interviewing Ontario pork producers through the summer. (See cover story, page 8) It has come down to a choice of how a farmer does business. That choice is reflected in the position of Ontario Pork. "We believe that the majority of our producers are families that farm...We don't distinguish between a family and a factory farm," says Ontario Pork.Whether the issue of labelling farms as either "family" or "factory" becomes important in Ontario remains to be seen.
In a followup to a story in our last issue, Hay Bay Genetics of Napanee has ordered legal counsel to file an appeal of its convictions of violating the federal Fisheries Act. Last month in Kingston the farm and officials were sentenced. Ron Davis received a suspended sentence and was placed on probation for one year. Farm manager Mark Davis was fined $5,000 and the business was fined $5,000.
Hay Bay is also required to pay $25,000 to the local Cataraqui Region Conservation Authority. Mark Davis confirms that Hay Bay will appeal the conviction. BP
© copyright 2002 AgMedia Inc..
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Better Pork - October 2002"Yes" to group housing for sows
I read with interest the article "Is group housing the answer to sow wellbeing?" (Better Pork, August, 2002). Dr. Cate Dewey points to the difficulties of housing sows loose during different stages of their cycle. In finding a solution to these difficulties, she appears to agree that the only way to deal with them is to keep on using crates for a portion of the herd.We started experimenting with group housing of sows in 1985 and have not used gestation stalls since 1992. We were able to deal with the problems Dr. Dewey mentions by doing the following:
Dr. Dewey did not mention the role of space and boredom in group housing of sows. In practice, a large group of gestation sows (40 and over) works better than a small group. Even though the individual sows may be allotted the same square footage in both sized groups, the larger group works better. Bedding and access to forage has a major impact on the behaviour of the sows in the group as it deals positively with boredom and hunger.
- adding behavioural traits to the selecting process for replacement gilts;
- forming subgroups of sows while nursing by moving 10 to 12 sows into a multi-suckling room where sows and their piglets are loose;
- re-introducing the subgroup at weaning time into the larger group of gestating sows;
- having the sows bred as they come into estrus while part of the large group;
- using deep-bedding to prevent animals hurting each other when mounting.
So, when asked the question "Is group housing the answer to sow well-being?" our answer is "Yes, and we don't need to have any dry sow stalls!"
Tom van Milligen Bridgewater, N.S.
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When does a family farm become a factory farm?
For some Ontario farmers, it ceases to be a family operation when hired labour predominates, when outside capital is involved or contract finishing is done. Whatever the definition, say some, there is a place for bothby DON STONEMAN
South of the border, economists and farm groups alike have slapped labels such as "contract farming" and "franchise farming" on various financial arrangements in agriculture to differentiate them from "family farming." Is a farm that contracts with a buyer still a family farm? Is hired labour a factor or farm size a delineator?North of the border, the issue of factory versus family farming crops up sometimes in the debate over government support for agriculture, as well as during discussions of environmental issues. Generally, in Ontario, the lines used to differentiate between factory farms and family farms have become blurred.
"I will always view my farm as a family farm," says Spencerville farmer Geri Kamenz, who recently converted from a pullet-raising operation to raising gilts for Premium Pork.
Geri's wife Heather works full-time as a nurse. Two daughters help in the barns and full-time barn manager Rick Foubert looks after 2,000 gilts. A 500-gilt expansion will likely be filled with pigs this month.
Kamenz admits that the question prompted some thinking as he drove from meeting to meeting as a member of the Ontario Federation of Agriculture's executive committee in the summer.
"We operate as a sole proprietorship," says Kamenz, who also says farmers shouldn't look down their noses at others who have formed corporations. "I don't think that business structure has a bearing on whether you consider something to be a family farm." Nor should it matter whether a farm sells its products on contract or on open markets. Some American farm groups don't consider a farm to be a truly family operation if sales are made using contracts.
"I would suggest that contract agriculture is a cultural extension of supply management. We all do it to bring some stability to the income stream," says Kamenz. "Whether it is tomatoes for Heinz, or cukes for Bicks through a contractual arrangement, what's the difference? "
"We like to think of ourselves as free enterprisers," Kamenz says, "but we are really risk averse here in Canada."
The Kamenz family got out of poultry production at the same time as it got into pigs. Some bio-security questions arose with poultry and the hog barn, but more important was the fact that when it came to poultry "nobody wanted to do it." It was a question of getting bigger or getting out.
The poultry operation wasn't large, but it also involved contracts. "We raised pullets for an end user, 8,000 at a time, which is not a large operation. If you are raising poultry, you aren't making decisions on how you feed them. It's a very strict program based on the end user."
Kamenz calls the poultry industry "a model of co-operation and integration because everyone is making money." That is very unlike the cattle industry, where feedlotters and the cow-calf operators and the grain growers who supply them rarely make money at the same time. Kamenz finishes the calves from 100 cows. He breeds back the heifers and one day hopes to sell breeding animals, while his children show beef calves at 4-H. There are also roughly 1,000 acres of land to be cropped.
Two daughters work on the farm as well at various jobs, mostly loading and unloading pigs. "We have them on a salary scale," Kamenz says. "They'll turn down baby-sitting jobs to do the farming. It pays better and they feel they are part of it."
As a result, he believes they are a step above other kids, having already experienced "the realities of life and death, the economic discussions around the dinner table, the realities of how things are going."
Without an expansion "the farm would not cover the cost of a full-time employee and give us a standard comparable with some of our civil service neighbours." He argues that a family farm should offer the same standard of living that any other professional family enjoys, Kamenz says. "Farming has become very much a profession. The complexities in agriculture from production through to marketing are equal to or greater than any other profession I am aware of." But to move towards that goal, the Kamenz farm needs to get bigger. How big does it need to be? "We need to be committed to continual growth. We are looking at efficiencies and shrinking margins. I don't know where the goal line is. I think it is a moving target."
Dairy farmers who milked 30 cows 10 years ago either milk 60 or 80 cows today, "or they have an exit strategy," Kamenz says.
But the reality is that expansion means swallowing up more farms. "I hope this creates other opportunities for people who work for us or with us."
When the Kamenz family proposed to build the pork barn several years ago, there was fierce opposition. But, as often happens, Kamenz says, there was silence after the barn was actually built and filled with pigs. Now the biggest issue in his municipality is the building of fences around swimming pools.
An hour's drive northeast of Spencerville is the township of Saarsfield, where an ongoing battle continues over a Quebec swine company's plans to erect barns there. Kamenz acknowledges that there are "difficulties" at Saarsfield that relate partly to the fact that supplies for the proposed farm will be coming from Quebec. But there are few allies for the farm side, Kamenz acknowledges. "As soon as you ignore the science on emotionally charged issues, you lose perspective," he says.
Outside labour a factor
On the other side of the province, Bert Beyens has a different point of view on what is a family farm. The size of the farm is likely where the limit is, says Bert Beyens, who finishes hogs from 100 sows on 140 workable acres south of Parkhill, in Middlesex County. By size, he means the amount of hired labour involved, not necessarily the pig numbers.Beyens feels that when outside labour provides most of the work, it's no longer a family farm. But, that said, he admits that the issue gets to be complicated. For example, if four brothers working together on the same farm, is that a family farm or has a line been crossed?
Here's a rough definition. It's a family farm as long as most of the labour comes from the family and they grow half or more of the corn needed for feed, and they have land on which to spread their manure.
Beyens is in partnership with his wife Tia. They've been producing pork at that farm for eight years, but Beyens, who is 55, says he has been in the pork business all of his life.
He markets finished pigs through the marketing board, Ontario Pork, but he doesn't think that selling through the board's pool is necessary to make it a family farm. Nor does he think that small farmers are unable to compete with large, specialized operations. In fact, 'small' can be an advantage. For example, his corn goes directly into a farm bin without going through the elevator system. A large operator would have to pay for as many as three trips in a truck in order to get that feed to the farm.
Beyens also believes that some untraditional co-operative efforts can greatly reduce costs. For example, he is part of a 30-member buying group, obtaining bulk fertilizer, premix, machinery parts and insurance jointly and getting a better rate than he would on his own.
When does a family farm become a factory farm? "We talk about that quite often" at Christian Farmers Federation meetings and also at pork producer meetings, says Hagersville producer Bill Heeg. His conclusion: "There's no definitive answer."
Heeg finishes 850 hogs at a time for Prinzen and Son Ltd. of Jarvis, which he describes as a "family farm" that lacks capacity to finish all of its weaners. The business plan is for an all-in, all-out operation, three crops a year with two weeks clean-out time between the crops. His first crop of pigs went into the barn recently. Pigs will shipped at 240 pounds and go to Quality Packers on a contract.
The value of the contract is commensurate with the value of the investment involved, and also the time. Heeg figures he spends half an hour a day in the barn most days. Much more of his time is now devoted towards managing a greenhouse operation nearby, which ships tomatoes to Colorado. He took over that role in late July.
Previously, Heeg had been part of what he describes as a "family partnership" with his brother and father. He ran a farrow-to-finish operation but worked closely with the other partners on cropping. Eventually, the partnership was turned into a corporation "because it made more sense." Since then "We outgrew the arrangement," he says. "It served its purpose."
He sold his interest in the corporation to his brother a few years ago. His father has subsequently quit milking cows and his brother has gone into the broiler business. "I was already looking to depopulate my barns. I decided that I should invest in a new system rather than re-invest in a system that was already heading towards obsolescence."
Mycoplasma pneumonia was a recurring problem. "It was frustrating," he acknowledges.
A place for factory farms
Heeg thinks farmers shouldn't oppose the large sow units on principle and believes they "can save" some of the smaller pork farms by providing a healthy supply of nursery pigs.He gutted the old farrow-to-finish barn, hiring a contractor with a small bulldozer to remove the end of the barn and rip the old floor down to grade. If you already have the manure pits and the barns "you are half way there," he says. It isn't hard to replace a sow barn floor with slats.
This can be done without getting permits and "riling up the neighbours" because the amount of manure produced isn't increased.
"What I would define as factory farms are these large sow enterprises. They would fit the definition quite well," he says. He is thinking of sow barns with 3,000 sows on one site, where there may be outside capital and the labour may have nothing to do with the family. "Personally, I don't have an issue with that," Heeg says.
That said, the so-called factory farms have a place in Ontario. They can do "a wonderful job" of both producing pork and protecting the environment, Heeg thinks. The methods of production are the same, he asserts, as are housing systems, ventilation and feeding. The only difference is the scale.
These allow the farmer to obtain efficiencies, he says, and use resources better. There is no more expertise required to do a good job of pricing and procuring feed for 3,000 sows than for 300. Astuteness is required, regardless of the operation's size.
The family farm was land-based, the farmer owned the land to grow crops to feed the pigs. In factory farms, the land is there mostly as a place to spread manure and the feed may come from elsewhere. Generally speaking, farmers who have less than 1,000 sows like to own their own land.
"The critics out there dislike factory farming and they like to talk up the value of family farming," Heeg says. "You can be stubborn and say 'I am independent. I will own my own livestock, grow my own feed, own my own land. I'll do it my way."
But with contract finishing, marketplace pressures are removed. The owner of the pigs takes care of that. "I'm kind of excited about the whole thing," says Heeg. "I think farmers have to look at technology and embrace it."BP
Ontario Pork hopes private member's mega-farm bill will die
When does a family hog farm become a mega-farm?Eastern Ontario MPP Jean-Marc Lalonde believes it's when there are 250 sows with offspring in a farrow-to-finish operation, 3,000 weaners in a nursery operation or 2,500 hogs in a finish operation.
The Liberal representative for Glengarry-Prescott-Russell says he considers hog farms with these or higher numbers of pigs to be "intensive farming." It's similar to farms that have silos to dry corn or soybeans. Those farms are considered to be industrial. "If it is intensive farming, it's not to serve the community or the immediate area or the province or the country," he explains. "Most of that stuff is shipped to other countries."
He calls these types of operations "mega-hog farms"and he's introduced a private member's bill in the Ontario Legislature to control them. The bill's aim is to protect regular family farmers and rural residents from aquifer pollution, odours and other nuisances.
The bill received first reading on June 19 and is slated to come up again during the fall session of the legislature. In it, Lalonde says all mega-hog farms should be identified as industrial for the purposes of the Official Plan in the municipality where the farm is located. That would mean farmers wanting to build facilities for a mega-hog farm would have to apply to their municipality for an Official Plan amendment.
In addition, these farms should be located in a municipality's industrial zone. Currently, they're located in agricultural areas, he says, because they are considered to be agricultural operations. "There is no definition at the present time of what is considered to be just a regular family hog farm or a mega farm."
Lalonde's bill also says the operation of a mega-hog farm is not a normal farm practice for the purposes of the Farming and Food Production Protection Act. In another section, it says that, in the case of conflict with a municipal bylaw that applies to mega-hog farms and any other act, the provision that provides the greater protection to the environment or reduces disturbances or nuisances to a greater degree shall prevail.
In developing the bill, Lalonde says he consulted with family hog farmers across Ontario. He remains open to suggestions for amendments.
Although most private members' bills don't get passed, Lalonde says he had one passed last year. Sometimes what happens with private member's bills if the government decides to take them over. He says his bill wouldn't be necessary if the government in its regulations to Bill 81 (the Nutrient Management Act) defined anything "over a certain size as industrial."
But, says Ontario Agriculture Minister Helen Johns, the problem the government is dealing with in Bill 81 is manure, regardless of the size of the operation. "We believe that everything that we do when we talk about agriculture -- and in this case large barns -- should be based completely on science."
The regulations to Bill 81 are being designed to be fair and consistent for all different agricultural communities and will be based on equivalent animal units and nutrient management plans.
OMAF doesn't have a definition for the term "family farm." Instead, the ministry wants to stay with a science-based approach.
For its part, Ontario Pork doesn't think Lalonde's bill will be passed. "We've done some homework to substantiate that belief," says chair Clare Schlegel. But the organization that represents the province's pork producers is still concerned about the direction of this proposed bill. Among Ontario Pork's concerns are that, if passed, this legislation would separate hog farmers from the rest of the province's livestock producers, a move Schlegel considers inappropriate. "All livestock produce manure and odour, which are the two main concerns here."
Ontario Pork is also concerned that the proposed sizes don't seem to be based on science, and that the proposed sizes in the bill "are in fact family farms. They're not the large mega-operations." Currently mega-farms are larger than average, but with changing technology hog farms of that size may soon be the norm, he explains. BP
© copyright 2002 AgMedia Inc..
back Why do sows show lack of seroconversion after repeated exposure to vaccine PRRS virus?
U.S. research has shown that waning of PRRS titres in sows after repeated vaccinations is normal. Cell mediated immunity remains strong, however, and this is what determines protectionby S. ERNEST SANFORD
Those of us who routinely examine PRRS serological profiles have long observed that the SP ratio (IDEXX Elisa test) in many sows gradually becomes negative ( <0.4 - the manufacturer's designated cut-off level) after they have been vaccinated repeatedly over a number of years with the same modified live PRRS vaccine.This is not the usual immunological response of a host to repeated exposure to an antigen (virus, bacterium, etc.). Why is this happening? Is it normal? Are the sows still protected.
From all indications, however, even though the sows were seronegative, their cell mediated immunity was still strong and active and the sows remained protected against PRRS.
Dr. Monte McCaw, a virologist at North Carolina State University, investigated this phenomenon with two main objectives in mind:
- Would repeated exposure to low doses of wild type PRRS virus induce similar seronegativity in pigs as seen with the repeated vaccinations?
- Would pigs immunized with multiple low doses of wild-type PRRS virus mount an antibody, anamnestic (booster) response when subsequently challenged with a high dose of the same (homologous) wild-type virus?
Dr. McCaw presented his results at the 17th International Pig Veterinary Society Congress in Ames, Iowa, last June. He conducted his investigation of this phenomenon in three phases:
1. He injected six-month-old, PRRS-naïve pigs three times, one month apart, with a low dose of PRRS field virus. These breeding-age pigs were then re-injected every other month for a total of six more injections with the same low dose of PRRS virus. All pigs were bled at designated times to monitor PRRS titres.
2. After one full year of these injections, pigs were infected experimentally with the same PRRS field virus (a homologous challenge). This was done by dividing animals that had become serologically negative (SP ratio <0.4) into groups that were challenged with a low or high dose of the homologous PRRS virus, or were left unchallenged. Another group of animals that still had a high SP ratio was infected with a high dose of PRRS virus.
3.In addition, a test for cell mediated immunity was also conducted by injecting viral proteins from both homologous and heterologous PRRS virus strains into the skin and measuring any thickening that occurred 48 and 72 hrs later. This is called a Delayed Type Hypersensitivity (DTH) test and is a measure of cell mediated immunity.
Dr. McCaw found that the SP ratios of 11 of 55 (1/ 5) pigs that were repeatedly injected with homologous PRRS virus became seronegative (SP <0.4) in his study. All 55 pigs had initially seroconverted to the PRRS virus but, after repeated homologous virus challenge, the SP ratios of one in five pigs declined into seronegative status.
Secondly, approximately one of five breeding-age pigs in both the ELISA-negative and the high SP ratio groups also failed to seroconvert after challenge with low or high doses of homologous PRRS virus.
And, lastly, the DTH reaction (cell mediated immunity) to the whole (homologous) virus and to heterologous viral antigens was strong for all the ELISA-negative pigs.
The conclusions to be drawn from this study include:
- The phenomenon observed in the field for several years now (i.e. sows becoming seronegative after repeated PRRS vaccinations) is real and can be reproduced experimentally under controlled conditions.
- This phenomenon is not restricted to vaccine virus exposure but also occurs after repeated exposure to low and high dose levels of homologous field virus.
- Not all animals become (ELISA) seronegative after repeated exposure.
- Although seronegative, cell mediated immunity remains strong to both homologous and heterologous PRRS virus challenge.
The message we can take home from this is that the observed waning of PRRS titres (SP ratio) in sows after repeated vaccinations is "normal", or at least is something that happens naturally, as evidenced by the similar response to repeated field virus exposure.
Cell mediated immunity remains strong, however, and where PRRS is concerned, cell mediated immunity is what determines protection, not SP (antibody titres) ratios. BP
S. Ernest Sanford, DVM, Dip. Path., Diplomate ACVP, is a swine specialist with Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica (Canada) in Burlington.
© copyright 2002 AgMedia Inc..
back Swine industry's export vulnerability requires concerted action on trade barriers
Canada and Ontario have good reputations as reliable exporters of pork. How can we defend ourselves against protectionist practices?by RICHARD SMELSKI
Canada is the largest pork exporter in the world. Exports of pork and live pigs, mainly early weans, have increased several fold in the last decade.We have become export-oriented for several reasons:
1. Land costs in an urban environment lend themselves to value-added production rather than commodity orientation. Thus, specialized early wean units, high quality domestic products and a watchful eye from neighbors have made us efficient.
2. Canada has a long-term relationship of trust with its customers. Japan has purchased a steady supply of pork from Canada. It takes more than product to obtain a sale and Canada has a good reputation.
3. Price is always an issue and Canada has one of the lowest costs of pork production in the world. A low exchange has kept us price-competitive.
4. For more than 50 years, Canada has implemented genetic and health programs that emphasized leanness and safety, and is therefore recognized round the world for the genetic merit of live hogs.
5. Organized marketing has created a unified voice and thrust. Countries prefer to deal with single representatives for import commodities, especially when they are sanctioned by legislation.
Often the benefits flowing from exports are not sufficiently emphasized by government or local politicians. The Ontario pork industry creates more than 35,000 jobs directly? and is creating further employment in related businesses such as banking, automotive, entertainment and housing. Farming, being a primary manufacturer, creates new wealth in the economy. The challenge now is to maintain the enthusiasm and recruitment of enough new entrants into the business.
Newton's first law says "every action has an equal and opposite reaction." With all the export advantages come risks and challenges and prices that are very sensitive to global demands, surpluses and politics. Just compare the stability of milk prices which are controlled by supply management to pork prices which fluctuate according to supply and demand.
Moreover, political intervention from local municipal through to national levels can increase costs and create artificial barriers. "Country of origin labelling" is just such a trade barrier and contrary to the so-called free trade agreement but the US is doing it anyway. Disease, food safety, inspection costs, distribution, welfare, operating procedures and environment are only a few other issues which can be used as obstacles to free trade. The time and cost involved in challenging political barriers is considerable unless all governments do something about them. The net result is fewer bigger operations because fixed costs, such as border inspections, are distributed over larger number of hogs. However, now the vulnerability increases to fewer operations but more pigs, for example the early wean operations. that can withstand the administrative cost but again are more susceptible to variable markets.
Prevention is the better part of cure. Other countries will try to jeopardize our exports for their own economic or political gain. How do we prevent this from happening in the export-dependent Ontario pork industry? Where is the legislation to originate from, internally and externally, locally, nationally and internationally? What role do the Canadian and Ontario governments play in defending against international trade barriers and in seeking out opportunities? Governments are very supportive of economic and labour activity, but government actions take a long time to work.
Quick, efficient communication is key through such organizations as Ontario Pork, Ontario Pork Industry Council, Federations of Agriculture and direct political contact. A clear mission and business plan endorsed politically is essential. This is a battle, the entire pork industry, and not just producers, cannot afford to lose by default. The impact of trade barriers, artificial or real, can be more devastating than the 1998 crisis. BP
Richard Smelski is hog technical services manager for Agribrands Purina and a former Ontario government swine specialist.
© copyright 2002 AgMedia Inc..
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