Ontario semen producers come to the rescue

Friday, May 6, 2011

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.

Andrew Fenton, business development manager at swine genetics company Danbred North America, says he got a call from DeVries. "That was just the day after Boxing Day," Fenton says, adding that "everybody was trying to put together what they had, what we could send to Quebec as far as volume."

Because the Saint Lambert barn contained such a large and diverse group of boars, Ontario suppliers had to match Quebec needs, especially in terms of lines, both paternal and maternal.

While CIPQ considered getting fresh semen from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, they decided to rely on Ontario because it could give them direct delivery without having to depend on couriers.

Most deliveries were made on Monday and Thursday. A driver from Ontario took semen to a meeting point close to the Quebec border. The Ontario driver was met by a Quebec driver who delivered it to CIPQ.

"Our goal was to get it there around five o'clock in that afternoon," DeVries says, "and that always worked out and the weather always co-operated."

DeVries says CIPQ used boars from their other barns to supply as much sperm as possible. "They were able to continue that balance of using their own boars as much as they could without either wrecking them or crashing them." He says over-collection from a boar can adversely affect the process of spermatogenesis.

While some deliveries are still being made, DeVries says CIPQ became a little more self-sufficient around the middle of February.

Nick Coude, CIPQ's promotion and technical service advisor, says they had a second barn in Saint Lambert, which is 15 minutes south of Quebec City. They also had two other production units of 200 boars each and a further unit has since been brought on line.

"The lab was the most difficult thing to solve," Coude says. He says they first set up a lab in the administration building at Saint Lambert and later in the second barn which is just 300 feet from the barn that burned.

Although Coude did not know how many doses came from Ontario, he says they still need a reduced supply. "It is too early to say when we will not need semen," he says.
Engineering work is continuing on a new barn that CIPQ is planning to rebuild on the same site. Coude says the cause of the fire has not been determined, although it might have been electrical. He adds that the new building being planned will be safer.

DeVries says none of the Ontario suppliers profited unduly from the venture. "Effectively, what we were trying to do," he says, "was to set this up so that if it happened to us what would be fair."

"Are the five studs (companies) that are helping out making money? Yes. But what we're aiming to do is see that CIPQ gets the help they need to get back on their feet." BF