pork

With Ontario pork prices still in an extended down cycle, many within the industry are concerned about the long term effect on producers.

Pork producers taking part in the federal sow cull program are required to keep breeding stock out of a barn for three years. However, they can use the barn as a nursery or as a feeding facility during that time period, the Canadian Pork Council (CPC) has confirmed.

It will take about another week before the federally mandated culling of sows can actually begin in Ontario says a member of a provincial committee organizing the program’s logistics.

LONDON — They came looking for some answers. Instead, delegates to the Ontario Pork annual meeting were told they would have to wait until April for the details of the board’s strategic direction.

Some Ontario farmers will soon be able to buy insurance for disease outbreak costs that aren’t covered by governments. The insurance is being offered in a one-year pilot project coordinated by the Ontario Livestock and Poultry Council and involving several other industry and commodity groups.

Ottawa - Paying pork producers to bury their sows or send them for dog food may be the latest sign that the industry is in uncharted territory. Details are sketchy on the newly announced federal Cull Breeding Swine Program, save that entire barns must be liquidated, stay empty for three years and no cull sows are to enter the human food chain.

LONDON — Ontario pork producers, in the midst of what many are calling a “perfect storm” are trying to determine if this is a “normal” low in the traditional hog cycle or part of something more threatening. With another dismal year predicted, individual producers must decide whether to stick it out in the hope that eventual higher prices will make up the difference or cut their losses now.