Better Pork - June 2004
Denmark: Danish research shows restricted feeding cuts piglet losses
by NORMAN DUNN
Danish research studying the effects of restricted feeding compared with ad lib systems on post-weaning piglet health has found a dramatic difference in piglet death rates between the systems.Average losses in pens of young pigs on an ad lib ration post-weaning were at approximately the standard level in Denmark of around three per cent. But losses amongst piglets fed a fixed ration four times per day averaged only 1.5 per cent.
COMPARING DIFFERENT FEEDING REGIMES FOR POST-WEANING PIGLETS Feeding regime Ad lib Restricted twice per day Restricted twice per day with ad lib barley Restricted four times per day No. of piglets in trial groups 1356 1336 1416 1196 Dlwg (g) 328 306 312 309 Dlwg index 100 93 95 94 Mortality (%) 3,0 3,3 2,7 1,6 Source: The National Committee for Pig Production, Denmark
Jes Callesen, the scientist who headed the trial in commercial hog farms last year, is still not clear why the difference was so marked and warns that this is the result of one survey only, albeit one involving more than 5,000 weaners on several units.Callesen, a researcher with the Danish National Committee for Pig Production, says the primary aim of the operation was to study the effect on diarrhea incidence of four feeding systems: ad lib, restrictive feeding twice per day, restrictive feeding twice per day with ad lib ground barley in addition, and restrictive feeding four times per day.
Results were taken only from the four-week period immediately after weaning.
As expected, the ad lib fed pigs returned easily the best daily liveweight gain (dlwg) performance, averaging 328 grams compared with a low of 306 grams for the group with twice-daily restricted feeding. The four times per day restricted feeding group did not perform much better in this respect with an average dlwg of 309 grams. The group fed twice per day with ground barley always on offer did a little better and averaged 312 grams.
"Ironically, we found no significant differences between the feeding regimes as far as diarrhea incidence was concerned," admits Callesen. "The mortality difference took us by surprise and so far we have not been able to identify a reason."
He adds, however, that the result is clear enough to advise farmers to remain with restricted rationing and, where possible, to feed growers four times a day for the first few weeks after they've left the sow. BP
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France: French government rewards hog farmers who help themselves
by Norman Dunn
The French government has announced a $22 million Cdn aid package for the country's hog farmers. But minister of agriculture Hervé Gaymard is avoiding direct support of pork production by offering cash mainly to those who help themselves. For instance, pork marketing groups will be aided only if they co-operate in streamlining their organizations to reduce costs, increase competitiveness and improve price information flow for the producers and market. Farmer groups will also be assisted to create rescue funds to keep enterprises stay afloat during difficult business periods.
The move follows more than six months of low producer prices and increasing feed costs which, in mid-winter, inflicted hog feeders with losses equivalent to $46 Cdn per 85-kg slaughter hog. The highest cereal prices for a decade have contributed to the current 30 per cent rise in hog production costs in France, a situation only a little better in other European countries.
The self-help package follows more direct assistance for French hog farmers in January, when the equivalent of $3 million was announced as compensation for producers moving out of the industry and a further $3 million given to those remaining to help them pay rising environment-protection costs.
France has the third-largest pig population in the European Union after Germany and Spain and is reported to be working towards a one per cent reduction in its 1.2 million-sow herd. To encourage this and also to make it attractive for smaller, less efficient, producers to leave the industry, the government is thought to be planning payments of up to $750 per sow place for those agreeing to give up production.
Environment costs for producers are also to be reduced, it is thought, by simplifying the regulations involved. It could be that this will feature a relaxation of plans, including the idea of individual sewage treatment plants on every hog production farm.
Government cash is also to go towards upgrading the quality assurance aspect of pork from the country's 50,000 hog farmers. The processing industry will be encouraged to follow Germany's lead in establishing a quality-based pork marketing scheme with its own special symbol for identifying the meat at retail outlets. BP
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Germany: German rearer-feeder partnerships boost hog health
by Norman Dunn
Hog feeders who stay permanently with the same weaner suppliers instead of playing the market have reduced veterinary treatments in their units by as much as 80 per cent and substantially increased feed conversion performance, according to the results from rearer-feeder partnerships in south-west Germany.
The Viehzentral Südwest (VZ) is a hog farmer organization which has created 20 such partnerships between its members, still something of a novelty in a country where the hog sector traditionally features specialist rearers who produce 20-25 kg weaners and sell them through dealers and markets to another specialist group, the feeders. This system results in what the vets call "piglet tourism" with weaners being collected by the same truck from different farms and then shipped often hundreds of kilometres before delivery to sometimes more than one feeding farm.
Diseases such as circovirus and PRRS spread fast this way and that's why the VZ organisation created the partnership system.
Each partnership has four to five members always supplying the one feeder. Batch farrowing is mandatory so that regular shipments of weaners can be more easily planned. This discipline also appears to have helped performance in rearer units, which now report an annual average of 22.5 weaned piglets per sow. Average weaner production amongst 1,888 test herds in Germany in 2002 was 20.4 per sow per year and 21.8 per sow/year for the top 25 per cent. Typically, each VZ partnership group supplies between 1,000 and 1,500 weaners per week and managers say the uniform and healthier batches now being delivered are responsible for the substantial drop in veterinary treatments. Average dlwg for partnership feeding hogs is now over 750 grams. The national average dlwg from all tested feeding units in Germany in 2002 was 703 grams. BP
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Germany: German supermarket cuts prices, increases sales with boxed half carcasses
This spring, the Kaiser's Tengelmann group has been retailing half carcasses for the equivalent of $3-$3.30 a kilo - and attracting new customers to the supermarket pork counters in the processby Norman Dunn
One of Germany's largest supermarket chains, the 750-store Kaiser's Tengelmann group, claims substantial increases in fresh pork sales by being the first supermarket to sell half-hog carcasses to individual customers this spring. (The sides are divided before sale into manageable cuts and portions.)
Selling half carcasses is usually reserved for farmyard sales in Europe. On a supermarket scale, the concept allows great price reductions. Depending on store location, the half carcasses were being retailed in March for an average equivalent to $3Cdn up to $3.30 a kilogram. Prices in conventional butcher outlets at the same time topped $10 a kilo for pork loin steaks, for example.
The great attraction of the Kaiser's Tengelmann half-hog concept is that the customer can say how the sides should be cut up. Each supermarket selling the hogs in this way says the customer can order any permutation of cutlets, gammon or bacon and that only a few minutes are required to fill a box for the deep freeze or neighbourhood barbecue fest.
Kaiser's Tengelmann management has reported real increases in meat sales through the half-hog campaign. Just as important, large numbers of new customers have also been attracted to the supermarket pork counters by the novel marketing idea. BP
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Demand, kilowatt hours and energy charges: Sorting through the confusing terminology
With energy prices now rising again, it's more important than ever to understand the numbers that go to make up your electricity billby RON MACDONALD
As you are aware, in the fall of 2002 after a mere five months, the former PC government partially aborted price deregulation so that small users (ie voters) are capped.Since, then confusion about our electricity supply and its pricing has become, if anything, even greater. It is important to understand the difference between the two main charges on your bill:
Energy, measured in kilowatt-hours (kWh), is the "fuel" that powers the lights and motors. The equivalent would be the litres of fuel to fill the car.
Demand, measured in kilowatts (kW), is the measurement of the peak flow of electricity into your farm at any given time. For example, if all exhaust fans, feed mill motors and lights are on, the demand will be much higher than if it is the middle of night and just a fan or two are running. The equivalent would be the rate of fuel flow measured as you pressed the accelerator down further in the car, causing a higher and higher flow rate of gas to occur.
In December 2002, the price for electricity was capped at 4.3 cents/kWh. At the same time, other changes were made. Significantly for many farms, the "demand" charge changed so that, in the case of farms that are charged on the basis of demand - that is, farms with demand greater than 50 kW -- the first 50 kW, formerly free, were now billed for all demand. Also, the price went from about $6.50/kW to $12.50/kW. In some cases, monthly electricity bills almost doubled.
The price cap of 4.3 cents/kWh only applies to the energy portion, that is the "electricity only" part of the monthly bill. This price cap is applicable to all farms, any consumer below 250,000 kWh/year (which is equivalent to a consumer where the "electricity only" part of the monthly bill is about $900/month) and designated consumers such as municipalities, educational institutions, health care facilities and cultural institutions. However, there have been mistakes made and some farms were actually charged the floating rate, which rose well above the capped 4.3 cents. Farmers are advised to check their past hydro bills and ensure that the bill clearly states, "Cost for electricity @ 4.3000 cents/kWh." If it is higher than this, you can appeal and have the rate changed.
Since the fall of 2002 through the winter of 2004, actual wholesale electricity prices paid to generators were higher than this legislated price of 4.3 cents/kWh paid by consumers.The difference between the price paid to generators and the price paid by consumers was paid by the provincial government.
POST-DEREGULATION BILLING kWh Charges Energy charges (1st 750 kWh @0.047 / kWh, remainder at $0.055 / kWh) Energy Charges -first 750 kWh $0.047 / kWh Capped charge -all additional kWh 0.055 / kWh Capped charge Rural rate protection $0.001 / kWh Regulated charge Wholesale market charge $0.0062 / kWh Regulated charge Transmission network charge $0.021218 / kWh Regulated charge Transmission connection charge $0.017882 / kWh Regulated charge Debt Retirement $0.007 / kWh Regulated charge Total average kWh charge $0.1083 / kWh (fluctuates with relative amount of energy used) kW Charges Distribution $8.72 / kW Regulated charge Transmission connection $1.51 / kW Regulated charge Transmission network $1.99 / kW Regulated charge Total kW Charges $12.22 / kW Other Charges Distribution Flat Fee $46.60 / month Regulated charge GST 7% Note: Customers who are not demand-billed (< 50 kW) are billed distribution, transmission network and transmission connection as a per kWh charge. If they are demand-billed, then distribution, transmission network and transmission connection charges are billed as a per kW charge. Farms are billed either on the per kWh or per kW basis, not both. Stay tuned for more interesting changes as Ontario embarks down the road of eliminating coal-fired stations and increasing nuclear and renewable energy supplies.
The reasons for higher prices were varied, including hotter than expected temperatures and delays in getting generating units up and running that were under maintenance. Such delays created a situation where demand for electricity was frequently close to or greater than the generating capacity in Ontario, resulting in a seller's market and imports of expensive power from neighbouring states and provinces.Now, the price is set to rise again. As of April 1, the new capped price is be 4.7 cents/kWh (for the first 750 kWh per month) and 5.5 cents/kWh (for any additional kWh that month). This essentially amounts to an (energy only) increase in price of 28 per cent.
For those who are capped; new price as of Apr 1 o4 is 4.7 cents first 750 kWh, then 5.5 cents for the rest. Most farms are capped. However, you can still buy a contract price for 1-5 years for varying rates. BP
Ron MacDonald, P.Eng., is an agricultural engineer with Agviro Inc. in Guelph.
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How to deal with post-weaning E. coli diarrhea
This can be a frustrating and costly disease to treat. Observing the proper diagnostic steps is a prerequisite of a successful treatment planby CATE DEWEY
Post-weaning E. coli diarrhea is a frustrating and costly disease. It can double and triple nursery barn mortality. It also causes severe damage in the intestine so that pigs that do live are left stunted and grow slowly. Two weeks after the initial outbreak, variation in size of pigs in the nursery pen is extreme.One frustration with post-weaning E. coli is determining how to treat, control and prevent the problem. Because this is a sporadic disease, some treatments will look like they work on one batch of pigs but not on another. It is difficult to tell whether this is because the first group was not going to get the disease any way or whether the treatment actually did work.
A treatment plan must begin with post-mortem evaluations of affected pigs. There are four key points when diagnosing diarrhea. The pigs must not be treated before you send them. They should have had diarrhea for only a few hours. They must be sent to the laboratory alive or a veterinarian must euthanize them and take samples at the farm. The animals submitted must represent the commonly affected pigs.
Each of these points deserves some justification and explanation. First of all, the pigs must not be treated for the diarrhea before they are sent. Treatment with antibiotics before submission can make it difficult to grow the bacteria in the laboratory. The antibiotic might kill the bacteria that caused the diarrhea, leaving other bacteria in the intestine that grow in the laboratory. All pigs have "healthy or good" E. coli in their intestines. An E. coli will grow, but it may be one that does not cause diarrhea. This will result in incorrect results.
The pig must be found early in the disease. Ideally, the pigs will have had diarrhea for only six to 12 hours before they are sent to the laboratory. These pigs might be hard to find in the group. Look for subtle signs such as a thin abdomen suggesting the pig is off feed, a depressed attitude and wetness under the tail. With E. coli, the pigs may also have red, scalded skin under the tail.
The pathologist will look for both viruses and bacteria. This is because multiple infections sometimes occur. We may find E. coli with either TGE or Rotavirus. In these cases, if we treat the E. coli but not the virus, our treatment will fail. If the diarrhea is caused by TGE, the virus will only be found in the intestine for the first few hours. If the diarrhea is caused by E. coli, there will be large numbers of bacteria in the intestine when the diarrhea first starts. Early submission will ensure that the pathologists finds the correct bacteria or virus.
However, it will be very difficult for you and the veterinarian to send the correct pigs to the laboratory. The pigs early in the disease will still look quite healthy. You will likely have other pigs that have been affected for a longer time that you would prefer to sacrifice. Sending these poorly faring pigs to the laboratory will likely not give you results that will help the rest of your herd. If you have an ongoing problem with E. coli, sacrificing a few good-looking pigs will be worth it if you solve the problem for the whole group.
Next, you must send enough pigs. Too often people submit one pig at a time. If the pig is not representative of the group, the results will be useless and yet a cost will still be incurred. I recommend that you send three pigs. Most likely, two of three pigs will be representative of the problem.
Finally, the pigs must either be sent live to the laboratory or a veterinarian must come to the farm to euthanize the pigs and take the samples to be submitted. As soon as the pig is euthanized, the veterinarian will take samples of the intestine and put them in formalin to fix the tissue. By doing this, the pathologist can look at the inside of the intestine under the microscope. When they look at the intestine, they may see bacteria attached to the intestine or they may see shortened villi that happen with TGE. This is an important diagnostic test. The inside of the intestine quickly disintegrates or comes apart shortly after the pig dies. If the pig has been dead for more than a few minutes before these samples are taken, the information from the intestine is lost. Next, the veterinarian will take samples of the intestine to culture the bacteria and look for viruses.
Once the results come back from the laboratory, you and your veterinarian can put a treatment, control and prevention program together. If viruses are part of the cause of the diarrhea, these will likely have to be prevented at the sow herd. The laboratory will culture the E. coli and determine its type to be sure that it is indeed causing the diarrhea. Most importantly, the laboratory will test the E. coli against a group of antibiotics. This information will be used to choose which antibiotic is effective against this E. coli -- an important part of responsible use of antibiotics in pig farms.BP
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Manitoba's rapid growth in pork production levels off
After several decades of rapid growth, the province's pork industry has reached a plateau and may face some realignment. But, despite a rising exchange rate and other challenges, its cost of production remains the lowest in North America and the industry still has ample expansion potentialby JOHN DIETZ and DON STONEMAN
Manitoba, Canada's pork industry powerhouse for most of the past decade, has apparently reached a plateau, according to officials and industry leaders in the province.Total pigs on Manitoba farms began a long, steady increase from around 600,000 in 1975. There was a setback in 1988-90, but this was followed again by steady growth to a peak in 2002 at more than 2.8 million pigs. Despite slight adjustments, the number is about the same today.
Manitoba pig exports to the United States are another telling measure of the province's pork growth. Total quarterly exports for breeding stock, weanlings and slaughter hogs cut through a 100,000 threshold in 1994. They doubled less than two years later, climbed to 600,000 in late 1999, nearly reached 750,000 in early 2002 and peaked at 1.15 million in the third quarter of 2003.
Many barns have been built in Manitoba in the past decade and two major packing plants have also been added. Equally important, production per sow has been increasing. "We were marketing maybe 18 or 19 pigs per sow 10 years ago. Now it's 21 or 22," says Peter Blawat, farm management specialist with Manitoba Agriculture, Food and Rural Initiatives, Winnipeg. "Even though the number of sows has tailed off a bit, the numbers (of pigs) are still increasing."
Manitoba's relatively low cost-of-production (COP) has made, and continues to make, the province an attractive place for pork investment. A Danish study in 2003 identified Manitoba as having the lowest COP in North America and one of the lowest in the world.
"I don't know if we're still the lowest in North America," Blawat says, "but we're one of the lowest."
The province's biggest continuing strength, he says, is that it still has room for significant expansion. Public opposition occurs on specific projects, but it's nothing like the resistance to further expansion in Europe and the eastern United States.
Although southeastern Manitoba, centre of the construction boom, may be approaching a limit, says Blawat, "there's lots of room yet in the Interlake, central and western regions."
One of the challenges is that Manitoba relies heavily on weanling exports to the United States. But, Blawat notes, "as our Canadian dollar inches up, the profit margin decreases."
Along with the exchange rate, transportation costs may be uncertain due to escalating fuel prices in February and March 2004. A typical haul to a finishing barn in Iowa takes 10 or 12 hours.
Locally, feed supply is another concern. Fusarium head blight has been increasing in the same region where barns are most concentrated. "A few years ago, they were getting their feed locally. Now we have a feed deficit in the southeast. Grain has to be delivered a distance."
The direct response to these challenges, Blawat says, is a two-fold realignment of the pork industry. "You're going to see a shake-out of some of the less profitable barns. They'll go out of business and be scooped up by some other operations. And, with the exchange rate going up, we are going to have to finish more here," he says.
One variable is hard to factor into calculations - what Blawat calls "the mad-cow, mad-chicken thing."
One or both livestock industry problems may affect pork consumption per capita. If North American consumers need to eat their way out of an oversupply situation, it may lead to less pork consumption.
Breeder's view
One Manitoba swine breeding company that's seen huge growth over the past decade is KPA (Keystone Pig Advancement), based in the village of Oakville Manitoba, about an hour's drive west of Winnipeg. Theye have more than 15,000 sows in multiplication on both sides of the Canada-U.S border and company officials say growth has been in excess of 20 per cent per year. KPA started selling breeding stock into the United States in the mid-1990s, Expansion followed into other provinces and into Mexico, South America and the Ukraine. KPA launched a new name and global brand for the international market, Genesus, in March 2004.Manitoba's pork industry has very little construction happening at the moment, says Bill Oakley, KPA's general manager. "Probably, our production is levelling off. We don't expect to see the growth we saw in the late 1990s."
From his viewpoint, the market has been at or below cost of production for most commercial producers. KPA pigs "are all finding homes right now," but the returns for most producers and for packing plants seem to be minimal.
Oakley calls it a time for maturing. "We've capitalized on an opportunity. The opportunity was to expand with new packing plants and relatively cheap feed grains. We put more animals on the ground; we built the plants and consumed the feed grains. We did a pretty job of it. Now, we're at the stage of a mature market, one that's not growing rapidly."
He says it will take a structural change (such as another new packing plant) to lead to any significant increase in production numbers for Manitoba.
The Puratone Corporation, based at Niverville, 25 miles south of Winnipeg, was established in 1973 as a feed company, began pig contracting in 1982 and "partnership farming" in the 1990s, with equity ranging from 20 to 100 per cent in operations where it has barns. Puratone expanded substantially in the past decade and today markets 400,000 hogs annually, both in Manitoba and exported. The anti-dumping and countervail threat is one more reason to be concerned.
In Puratone's view, the market has changed. Ab Freig, its chief executive officer, notes that the hog industry has matured both in Canada and the United States and that there are concerns about possible American trade actions and the recent appreciation of the Canadian dollar.
In this changing production climate, Puratone is adjusting. It has begun to improve efficiency and reduce production costs. And it is focusing on its core business of hogs and feed, while also looking for acquisition opportunities.
"We were in barn construction and we have gotten out of it," Freig says. "It was never huge for us. Hog production always has been a cyclic business. Today's adjustments lead to tomorrow's growth."
Feed costs in Manitoba were a concern last year, but Freig says Manitoba is "coming back" on the cost side. "Corn prices have shot up so high that barley is coming back into the ration now very fast. Soya is also expensive, so we are starting to use peas as a protein source."
Manitoba was getting clobbered because of a fusarium problem, says Frieg, and "because the demand for barley from Alberta was huge from the beef feedlot industry. But now, because of BSE, feed demand in Alberta has softened. Also, fusarium was not as big a problem last year as in the last five years.
Puratone uses a lot of local corn and "you don't have to drive more than two or three hours south of the border to get corn."
"Cruise control"
Canada's largest owner/manager in the hog industry, Maple Leaf Foods, has a major presence in Manitoba. The company owns or manages approximately 90,000 sows today in the province in a vertically co-ordinated system that stretches from breeding stock to packing plant."The present mode for systems in Manitoba is (to have) no more sows on the ground," says Gary Stott, senior director of business development, vertical co-ordination, for Maple Leaf Foods. "Let's get finisher floors down now to balance out the loops, to finish the pigs that are being born here."
Maple Leaf purchased the fast-growing, Manitoba-based, Elite Swine in October, 1999, and its aim, says Stott, is to finish as many hogs here in Canada as possible. In the earlier favourable economic climate, construction of finishing barns didn't need to keep pace with sow capacity; weanlings were simply shipped south to Iowa and Minnesota in ever-increasing numbers.
Now, that demand has slackened. A record number of pigs are going to slaughter in both Manitoba and North America overall, and there's been a 15 per cent appreciation in the Canadian dollar against the U.S. dollar since January 2003.
Back-to-back droughts and the American farm bill have taken away Manitoba's historical competitive advantage on the feed side, Stott says.
"We need an equivalent farm support program mechanism that remains green under international trade rules and keeps us competitive with our U.S. counterparts," says Stott. "That's where our Canadian government has to put its shoulder to the wheel." BP
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Getting premium prices from heritage breeds
Lambton County farmer Mac Brown has developed a diverse customer base with rare breeds that are in demand for their mothering skills and ability to thrive outdoorsby MIKE MULHERN
Mac Brown is a practical man who has farmed all his life on land first settled by his great-great grandfather in 1869 and land his father bought in 1958. So, with a pig barn as part of the home farm, he decided to raise pigs.His problem was that the pig barn -- the main barn is 136 feet by 36 and the farrowing barn 24 by 60 -- isn't big, so the economics had to be good. He settled on heritage pigs -- Tamworths, Berkshires and Large Blacks. "I can't do the volume, so we brought in rare breeds which we can sell at a premium," he says.
Sometimes he gets $10 to $15 more per pig for weaners. The premium is much greater when you sell a registered animal. A weaner that would sell for $53 to be raised for meat goes for $200 when it's registered breeding stock. Brown maintains a price list on his web site: http://members.execulink.com/~macb/ Brown, his wife Bonnie and their five sons farm 170 acres on McAuslan Road in Lambton County. They grow corn, soybeans, wheat and hay and raise cattle, sheep and Border Collie dogs along with the pigs, the rare breeds plus Yorkshires.
Brown bought his first rare breeds in 1999 and now has 65 sows. His customer base includes pioneer villages, the Toronto Zoo, new breeders who are mostly hobby farmers and even a couple of commercial pig farmers who buy pork for their own tables from Brown for its superior taste and texture. The Toronto Zoo plans to include some of his pigs, two gilts from each rare breed, in a children's exhibit scheduled to open in May. The zoo will buy the pigs from the Browns for $1 for the summer and the Browns will buy the pigs back for the same amount at the end of summer season.
Maria Franke, curator of mammals, says the children's zoo will not be a petting or feeding zoo, but it will allow children to pat the pigs. There will also be information on the breeds at the zoo and the pigs will have a grass paddock and a barn. "We've tried to concentrate on rare breeds, just so we can get the message across that it is not just exotic species that are rare, but also domestic breeds," Franke says. Besides, she notes, they are hardy and easy to keep outside.
All three heritage breeds originated in England, although the Tamworth was brought to England from Ireland.
According to Rare Breeds Canada, two of the breeds Brown raises are on the endangered list in Canada, the Tamworth and English Large Blacks. Berkshires have rebounded from only seven registered in Canada in 1995 to more than 1,300 today.
Brown feeds his pigs a non-medicated commercial feed of corn, wheat, soy meal and soy oil. He has the feed tested independently. "I'm not an organic farmer," Brown says, but he does try to raise his pigs as naturally as possible. They are bedded down on straw. To increase vigour in his breeding stock, Brown selects animals with good breeding and mothering skills. He says most rare breeds are in the hands of hobby farmers, who may have so few animals they don't breed as selectively as a commercial operator. He would like to see artificial insemination options in the industry to give breeders a wider range of genetic options. At the moment, for example, he has only one Tamworth boar.
Brown says he gets calls from potential customers asking for "old fashioned" Yorkshires. they are looking for animals that will stand up to more variable conditions than the low-fat pigs that many producers are now raising.
One breeder who also takes the natural approach and has been at it longer than Brown is Art Froman of Penoka, Alta. He has been raising Tamworths and Large Blacks for 45 years and sells about 40 boars a year for breeding all across Canada and the United States. He believes rare breeds are viable only as long as they have commercial value. "If they have a commercial value where you sell boars for cross breeding and stuff like that, then yes they're valuable," says Froman.
He believes that demand is what will keep the breeds alive. "If you're putting that many in the system," he says, "they're doing the job or you wouldn't have repeat customers. If you're repeating for a number of years, then there is a value in them."
Part of their crossbreeding value is in their mothering abilities. Froman says the Tamworths and Large Blacks are "quite a bit more maternal than most of the pigs are and, another thing, a black pig will not have scab and won't sunburn." He says most of his sales are to farmers who raise pigs outside and are looking for those qualities.
Froman raises his pigs outside where they have wooden sheds for shelter. They are bedded on straw and are only brought in to farrow. He does not use farrowing crates, but rather sows give birth in farrowing pens where they stay with their young until weaning, usually at six weeks. Rations are farm-raised barley or barley and oats mixed. Due to the drought in Alberta, he has fewer breeding sows at the moment -- about 15 of each breed. He decided to reduce his numbers rather than to purchase expensive feed. BP
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