There was a time when farmers, ag suppliers, processors, it didn’t really matter who and what, weren’t that keen on showing the public what and how they produce their food. Why, because they had refined their business, shop, barn or feedlot, and / or feedlot, or the like.
Today the pendulum keeps swinging in the other direction, where those same people are going out of their way to show the people where, how, what, and when, the four w’s of journalism if you like, inviting through open houses, fairs and exhibitions, ag days, ag in the classroom, and days on the farm.
Thunder Creek Pork of Moose Jaw, SK recently opened its doors to pork producers and representatives of the industries that provide them services to show what’s involved in processing hogs.
Thunder Creek Pork is a division of Donald’s Fine Food from Langley, B.C. operating the Moose Jaw hog slaughtering plant since January 2011.
Pork producers in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba and hog industry suppliers such as feed company representatives, veterinarians, genetics company representatives and others attended the July 30 event.
Tyler Wiebe, the hog procurement coordinator with Thunder Creek Pork, says this is the third open house and its intent is to create transparency and allow producers to see how one company actually processes their hogs.
“Our primary suppliers of animals are Hutterite Colonies around Saskatchewan,” said Wiebe. “Our current capacity is roughly around 1,150 to 1,200 hogs per day and interest in the plant is very strong. We have a very good hog procurement program, very fair and we have the ability as a smaller plant to take a lot more time to look at every animal and grade them.”
Since 2011, when Thunder Creek Pork took over a defunct beef processing plant, the hog supply has dropped, especially the last couple of years actually.
First off, the PED virus hitting barns in the United States killing millions of baby pigs, while not affecting barns in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the barns in the U.S. required a lot more Isoweans coming from Canada.
“Those Isoweans went to the U.S. to help get their supply back up so that dwindled the Canadian supply and making everything a lot more competitive as far as procurement goes,” said Wiebe.
Harvey Wagner, the manager of producer services with Sask Pork says satisfying the stringent demands of high end buyers of Canadian pork, such as Japan, is all about what happens on the farm.
Wagner says buyers of Canadian pork in the premium markets, such as Japan, are particularly demanding when it comes to marbling, meat color, fat color and tenderness, factors that are in the hands of the producer.
“You have to pay really close attention to your nutrition package, so things like not feeding any DDGS,” he said. “DDGS are a fine source of nutrition but they tend to change the quality of the meat a little bit and it gets a little softer and the fat is a little softer, not as nice bright color as what we might like to see. Typically in a prairie diet, given that we feed wheat and barley and peas, we have a really nice fat color. That fat is pure white and that’s the preferred color for the high end markets.”
The other thing is, Canadian producers don’t feed any Ractopamine because it isn’t universally accepted in some areas and, though there is nothing wrong with Ractopamine, they prefer not to have it in there, so no Ractopamine, he says.
That’s is a good reason for a company like Thunder Hill Pork at Moose Jaw, SK. giving the industry a chance to see what the processors do to sell the pigs he buys from producers, and to in turn tell them why they do what they do.
Wagner says many of these markets prefer not to have any animal byproducts in the feed either, but a lot of these factors are in the producer’s hands. Depending upon what they feed or how producers handle the hogs makes the difference in the final product.
“It starts off with nutrition then it goes into handling the pigs on the farm and how they’re handled through transport, makes a big difference on the eventual cut of meat on the floor,” he said.
“Canada exports more product, as a per cent of total production, than other countries so it is more important for us to have as many animals in that acceptable export range as possible,” he adds.  •
— By Harry Siemens