Behind the Lines - June 2013

Friday, June 7, 2013

"It's great to have something that people want," says Roger Harley, operator of Harley Farms in Peterborough County. Producers who feel the squeeze from imports from the United States and markets overseas that are hard to crack are bound to agree. Whether you are a committed "commodity" pork producer or a niche producer (or you want to be), this month's cover story will be of interest.

There are any number of producers getting a premium for their pork from niche markets. The Harley family is developing an outdoor pig production system that they believe will not only get them a premium, but will reduce costs associated with current intensive indoor management systems and appeal to consumers with their ever-growing concerns about how pork is raised. This system requires a different mindset, and also involves other livestock. This story, by Don Stoneman, starts on page 6.

This month, our nutrition writer Janice Murphy takes nutrition to another level, describing how supplementing weaner diets with stabilized rice bran benefits pigs from a health and growth perspective. Her article can be found on page 36.

When should sows be vaccinated for diseases associated with circovirus? "The answer depends on whether your primary concern is PCV2-associated reproductive failure or development of PCVAD in younger nursery pigs," says our herd health writer Dr. Ernest Sanford.   

Think there are enough parameters already on your pork production system? Our European columnist Norman Dunn points to a new one in Europe – lifetime production per sow. He also looks at producer efforts to tell consumers the story of how pork is produced. Interestingly, one of these efforts sounds remarkably like Ontario Pork's popular Pig Mobile project, which is a traveling display unit that holds a sow and piglets. Dunn's column starts on page 46. BP

ROBERT IRWIN