Better Pork - August 2007

Environment

Documenting a century of achievement in the livestock industry

A new book takes a look at the dramatic changes that have taken place in the dairy, poultry and pork industries and the benefits they have brought consumers

by SAM BRADSHAW

Jim Dalrymple, James White and David Hume have just published an important and interesting book entitled “The Livestock Industry in Ontario – A Century of Achievement.”

This 250-page book describes changes in the dairy, poultry and pork industry over the last century. It also has a chapter describing how technology has affected food production
from 1900 to 2000.

It begins with the authors describing some of the technological advances agriculture has made in the last 100 years. How many know, for instance, that there were 776,000 horses on Ontario farms in 1916, but by 1961 this number had declined to 89,000, while tractors had increased to about 150,000.

A “big” tractor in the 1950s was approaching 50 hp. I can remember when my neighbour purchased an International W-6 which was then considered one of the largest in the neighbourhood. The 37-hp International Farmall W6 Standard gas tractor was rated as a three-plow tractor.
 
The author says that, over the century, the percentage of capital invested in equipment increased from six per cent to 13 per cent of gross income and the investment in livestock and poultry decreased from 14 to six per cent.
 
Since 1931, we’ve lost about 620,000 farmers and 132,446 farms, but still almost all farms in Ontario, regardless of size, product or location, are family owned. However, the number and percentage of Ontarians who are employed on farms has decreased substantially over the past century. Some other facts and figures from the book:

• The percentage of census farms reporting their investment in livestock decreased from 100 per cent in 1961 to 67 per cent in 2001.
• The number of hogs on Ontario farms has doubled from 1,491,885 in 1901 to about 3,457,000 in 2001. The number of pork farms has decreased from more than 120,000 to about 3,100 in 2006.
• Pigs per farm have increased from under 20 to more than 500 in the last 60 years.
• The amount of pork per sow per year has more than doubled in the last 50 years.
• Ontario’s human population has increased from two million to 12.5 million and is projected to be above 17 million by 2031.

Achievements in production efficiency include:

• Days to reach market weight have decreased by 20 per cent in the last 20 years.
• Water requirements to raise a pig from birth to market have decreased by 40 per cent in the past half century.
• The number of pigs per sow per year has increased more than 100 per cent in the last century.
• A greater knowledge of swine nutrition has led to more precise nutrient intake and less excess nutrients in manure.

The authors report that pigs have existed for 45 million years, with the first domestication of pigs thought to have originated in China in about 4,900 BC.
 
I didn’t realize that, in the early 1900s, most hogs were bred for the production of lard. Today, lean meat has replaced much of the fat. In 1963, three ounces of boiled pork loin contained 29.6 grams of fat. By 1990, that level was down to 6.9 grams of fat, which equates to 77 per cent less fat and 53 per cent fewer calories.

In 1936, the average investment on farms with hogs in real estate, livestock, machinery and supplies was $16,469. These farms averaged 104 acres growing wheat, oats, beans, corn and alfalfa hay. Farms averaged 3.7 sows, which included Yorkshires, Tamworths and Berkshires. Only one in four farms had a boar and farmers sold about 50 pigs per year.
 
Charts on this page and on page 47 show how the numbers have changed over the past century.

Breeding
In the early 1900s, selection of breeding stock was based entirely on visual appraisal for conformation with little understanding of lean content, fat content, meat quality and health characteristics relative to consumer benefits. Also, during this period, 66 per cent of Canadian production went to Britain. In 1952, the Canadian United Kingdom yearly bacon contract was abandoned with the end of “wartime controls.”

Recent scientific reports have projected continued genetic improvement through research as shown below.

Reproduction
Many advances are occurring through research in swine production, including semen sexing, cloning, reduced sperm needed per insemination, controlled estrus, improved A.I. conception rates and farrowing control.

In 1993, reproductive efficiency was estimated at 16 pigs per sow per year, with 22 attainable. Ontario swine herds today exceed 22 to 24, with the objective of 30 pigs per sow per year.

In 2001, the Ontario pork industry accounted for 12.2 per cent of Ontario’s farm cash receipts accounting to $1,051 million. The industry continues to focus on the development of safe and affordable products, on the health of animals, good nutrition and housing.

Nutrition
The current problem of over- and under-feeding in the human population is largely non-existent in well-managed swine production systems in Ontario. Split sex feeding has been introduced. Gilts will consume 10 to 12 per cent less feed and will be about four per cent more efficient in converting feed to body weight gain than males. Thus, gilt diets should contain higher nutrient levels. Barrows grow significantly faster and eat more feed per day.

What does the future hold?
Continued research will improve feed efficiency. Genetic advances, health management and nutrition have enabled some producers to achieve 30 pigs per sow per year. Some believe 40 pigs per sow are possible.

Research will enable producers to decrease antibiotic use and to use alternatives such as probiotics and genetic engineering.

I have just scratched the surface of this interesting book. Copies can be obtained by contacting the publisher: InfoResults Limited, 28 Peel Ave., Brampton, ON, L6W 1X2. Tel: 905 453 1174. BP

Sam Bradshaw is environmental specialist with Ontario Pork

(1) Reaman, G. Elmore. A History of Agriculture in Ontario, Vol. 1 and Vol. ll, Hazell Watson & Viney Ltd. Aylesbury, England, 1970.