Pork

That’s what Jeff Linton is doing, after studying a farrow-to-finish operation in Scotland. And, so far, it is proving a cheap and healthy way to operate

by MIKE MULHERN

It has the feel and look of a small subdivision. The houses are all the same and the neighbourhood is awash in noisy youngsters who chase through the grass while their mothers sit around the pool.

The difference is that this subdivision is on 2.7 acres of seeded pasture, surrounded by three strands of high-tensile electric fence, and the residents are all pigs. The pool is a wallow and the mothers don’t so much sit around it as lie in it.

The 2001 death of their infant son from liver cancer inspired Paul and Rose Hill of Perth County to develop a line of Omega-3 pork that delivers the healthful fatty acids directly

by MARY BAXTER

Paul and Rose Hill have shifted to pork niche marketing and they’re hoping to help other pork producers make the transition, too.

The Perth County farmers received the 2010 Premier’s Award for Agri-food Innovation Excellence earlier this year for producing a unique version of Omega-3 pork.

When a Quebec stud barn burned down on Christmas Eve, and with it 361 boars, the owner turned to Ontario semen suppliers for help – and they came through

by MIKE MULHERN

A fire on Christmas Eve at a stud barn and processing lab in Saint Lambert, Que., wiped out 361 boars and put Quebec’s CIPQ Inc. in the position of having to find an immediate supplier of semen.

They turned to five Ontario semen producers and they did it with a phone call to Total Swine Genetics manager Stuart DeVries. He got the first call at 7:30 on Christmas morning. The first load of semen was delivered five days later on Thursday, Dec. 30.


Ongoing testing and research into molecular genetics, pork quality and disease resistance is helping to ensure that the Canadian pork industry continues to provide quality products for both domestic and foreign consumers


by JIM DALRYMPLE

Although recent years have not been profitable ones for pork producers, the industry has continued to improve the quality and efficiency of the hogs it produces thanks to the efforts of the Canadian Swine Breeders Association, the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement (CCSI) and its supporters.