Better Pork - August 2007

Behind The Lines

Pork production is a numbers game. Producers record and chart births, deaths, feed consumed, weights, piglets produced per sow in myriad ways. Ultimately, of course, good numbers contribute to a farm’s bottom line.

So it’s no surprise that when trends in loin size started going the wrong way, some in the industry sounded the alarm. Loin size is the topic of this issue’s cover story. Many producers have contracts that offer them bonuses for bigger loins, or dock them dollars if loin size is below a certain level.

Writer Kate Procter has a background in breeding. After writing and submitting the article, however, she expressed surprise that there were so many factors, aside from genetics, that affect loin size.

It appears that at least one of those factors is disease in the weaner barn. It’s possible that circovirus and Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome are taking an even bigger toll on our industry than previously thought.

Someone who has made a consistently valuable effort to share his expertise with readers of this magazine, dating back to our first issue, was recently recognized for his important contributions and outstanding service to the American Association of Swine Veterinarians association (AASV) and the swine industry.

That person is Dr. Ernest Sanford, a swine specialist for Boehringer Ingelheim Canada who joined that company in 1994 after earning a reputation as a leading edge pathologist at an Ontario government laboratory.

Dr. Harry Snelson, DVM, who is AASV’s director of communications, says that Ernest “has served the U.S. and Canadian pork industries through his research in swine diseases and leadership roles in organizations that serve the industry. Dr. Sanford is a board member of the Ontario Pork Industry Council Swine Health Advisory Board and a director on the AASV Board of Directors representing District 11 (Canada).”

Dr. Sanford has been a diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Pathologists since 1981. Congratulations and thank you, Ernest!

On page 34 of this issue, Ernest tackles coccidiosis, a disease he reviewed for us back in 2004 before Health Canada removed Baycox from the market. Lacking the availability of an effective treatment, Ernest outlines the remaining options open to reduce your losses.

Still looking stateside for a moment, the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD) at Iowa State University says ethanol production has boosted pork production costs by 30 per cent over the past year. Now might be as good a time as any for producers to do some research on alternative feeds. Distillers’ dried grains with solubles (DDGS), for example, may be one alternative that can lower protein costs.