Cover Story

The pressure to move to loose housing builds across North America

Activist campaigning has already led to a move away from gestation stalls in the United States and now Ontario is beginning to feel the impact. But, here at least, change is mainly industry-led

by DON STONEMAN

As the pressure to get gestation stalls out of pork production systems across North America comes to bear in Ontario Dave Van Moorsel wonders whether his solution will work for larger scale producers.

First in 2004 and again in 2007, Van Moorsel expanded his sow herd to 300 by renovating unused finishing space in an old bank barn into group housing and floor feeding.  It was a “cheap and easy solution,” says the pork producer who farms with his wife Tara south of Parkhill.

Time to consider hedging as part of your market strategy?

Some insiders are suggesting forward contracting as a defense against falling prices and the Farm Credit Corporation considers it a useful tool. But not all lenders are comfortable with the idea

by DON STONEMAN                       

If the pork price downturn this spring slammed your operation’s income because you didn’t have pigs hedged to cover your costs, you are not alone.

“Generally speaking, when the markets fall off, the majority of hogs aren’t hedged,” says Patrick O’Neil, manager of Ontario Pork’s Marketing Division. Prices in mid-May made a strong case for forward contracting, he says.

The transition to open marketing – producers’ fears have not been realized

The new marketing arrangements have brought sizeable changes at Ontario Pork, but for hog producers, the transition has been relatively smooth. Even those most committed to single desk marketing say that not a lot has changed

by MARY BAXTER

Eighteen months ago, Ontario hog producers greeted their industry’s shift to open marketing with either dread or relief, depending on their perspective. Everyone knew the change would be big, maybe the greatest the provincial industry had ever faced. Yet when the December 2010 deadline finally arrived, what was so surprising was how anticlimactic the transition actually was.

PRRS elimination: a tougher battle than expected

The Stam family of Jarvis signed on for a regional PRRS elimination and control pilot project in the hope that it would help them lick the disease. And, for a while, they thought they had succeeded

by Mary Baxter

Tony Stam first encountered Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome in 1997 when he learned that a shipment of semen contained the virus.

“We were alerted by our veterinarian that the boars had just broken with PRRS,” he recalls. Some of the semen had already been used for breeding. They threw out the rest but it was too late.
As it turned out, the strain was mild. So, in consultation with their vet, Tony and his wife Vickie chose to control it by exposing all new animals on their arrival.

FARM DEBT: A looming issue for some swine producers

Many pork producers are taking a welcome breather and enjoying reasonable returns after the string of crises that has hit the industry in the last decade. Most are carrying more debt than before and, for some, it is a millstone that will be hard to slough off. Debt is certainly a looming issue for the 400 hog producers who haven’t paid back their nearly four-year-old ACC loans.

Don LeDrew, chief operating officer of ACC Farmers Financial in Guelph, says that in 2008 the Emergency Livestock Advanced Payment Program lent about $96 million to roughly 650 Ontario hog producers at a reduced interest rate. Of that, $32 million, or about one third, has been paid back. About 400 hog producers owe ACC $64 million.

Manitoba under pressure to ban dry stalls

Animal welfare groups have targeted the province and livestock experts are concerned that what happens there will set a precedent for the rest of the country

by DON STONEMAN

Before the National Farmers Union (NFU) held its national convention in London in late November, member Rock Geluk, a Kent County organic pork producer, looked over the Manitoba chapter’s resolution calling for the banning of dry sow stalls by 2017 and decided he could support it.

How much intramuscular fat should your pigs have?

A national project is underway in order to determine the amount of intramuscular fat in Durocs and determine an Estimated Breeding Value. This, in turn, will help producers tailor the amount of fat or marbling to meet their customers’ needs


by DON STONEMAN

On a swelteringly hot summer  morning, Mount Elgin breeder Simon VanDyk and his son David herd market weight Duroc pigs one at a time onto a scale for weighing and then into a crate where each animal has the full attention of Ontario Swine Improvement technician Chris Crump.

Niche marketing: a way to beat the odds for hard-pressed producers

Whether it’s with antibiotic-free or Omega-3 pork, some operators are finding that developing niche markets is a key to survival. And experts believe that these could eventually account for 20-25 per cent of the Ontario market

by MARY BAXTER

Five years ago, Gord Player’s sons bought their uncle’s share of the family’s farrow-to-finish swine operation near Gads Hill, north of Stratford. The vision was to continue working with their father to produce commodity market pork. Then, in 2007, costs soared and prices plummeted. “We obviously knew what we were doing wasn’t working,” says Gord. So the family considered another direction.

Loose housing: a concept whose time is yet to come

A handful of Ontario producers have adopted the concept, but so far not as many as expected. But industry insiders, such as Ontario Pork’s Curtiss Littlejohn, think that more widespread adoption is just around the corner

by MIKE MULHERN

Dave Linton and his son Jeff work among their sows with a quiet confidence that comes from daily interaction and a close relationship demanded by the loose housing system they have devised for their gestating sows.