Strutting your stuff is just one aspect of a major trade show that recently wrapped up its 45th edition.
Volunteers, sponsors and exhibitors who are all part of Alberta Pork Congress swept into Red Deer on the afternoon of June 11, bent on putting the industry’s best foot forward while courting the attention of existing and potential clients. From finance and marketing to sow crates and composting, just over 100 displays were set up in the two pavilions at Westerner Park, home of Pork Congress.
In his address during the awards banquet, 2019 Chair Steve Laycock said people come to Pork Congress for a variety of reasons.
“Many of us come for renovations or new products or ideas. Some come for (the awards banquet). But I think the vast majority of us come because we have friendships, we have long-term friendships, we come because we want to have a good belly laugh, because this is a fabulous environment, a fabulous industry, and hopefully we leave making new friends.”
Manitoba producer Rick Bergmann, Chair of the Canadian Pork Council, was in full agreement after cruising the trade floor for the first time ever.
“This is amazing,” said Bergmann, who dropped by Prairie Hog Country’s booth for a visit and took some time to quell a rumour that was gaining a bit of traction among the crowd.
Somewhere along the grapevine, discussion was brewing about Alberta producers getting more time to meet sow housing requirements that are due by 2024.

Under the 2014 revision to the Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs, all hog farms will be required to provide loose housing for sows in gestation within the next five years. That’s a deadline that some producers will have difficulty meeting, said Bergmann – a key player in the process.
He explained that a review committee is struck periodically to review the “Pig Code,” and that any extension of the deadline will apply across the country and not just to Alberta.
“This year is that year: It’s Year Five. CPC has a committee comprised of producers from across this country. The one thing we want to ensure is that the timelines for change are going to be workable for producers. So, there’s a process right now of negotiating the timeline,” he said.
“When this committee negotiates, they’re negotiating on behalf of the nation’s producers. Although there’s always change on the horizon, that change has to be workable for producers.
“The job at CPC is to help bring sustainability to producers across the country. That said, we recognize we’re in a time of change and that’s just how life is. We have to make sure that change is palatable and doable for producers.’
Bergmann said his objectives is to help farms grow, with sustainability built in and passed on to a next generation of farmers who see hope for the future.
“Public trust has a big part of all of this. Society wants to be assured that animals are looked after on our farms, and they are today. That said, with new technologies and so on, there is more ability to adapt and possibly make it even better than what it was in the past.”
Whether consumers will pay premium prices for hogs that meet or exceed their expectations is another story.
“When it comes down to animal welfare, nobody in the country is more an animal welfare person than the people on the farm looking after their animals,” he said.
“That I want to make really clear, because there are some throughout our country who would deem to be the animal welfare people. If we want to talk to animal welfare people, we talk to the people on the farm who look after the welfare of animals. Every day, 365 days of the year, these animals get looked after and tended to and are given the right environment to live in and to grow and are given nutrition for them to grow in a good way.
“There are a lot of things that are done that society doesn’t understand because there is only two per cent of the population that are in agriculture, and out of that two per cent, what percentages are involved in swine production.
“That’s the message that we bring to Ottawa constantly, about the value the producers bring to the economy not only of the provinces, but also the country.”
Around the corner, Roger Smith, Business Development and Territory Manager for Protekta in Ontario and Western Canada displayed a soybean ingredient from a patented process reported to improve digestibility and reduce scours in nursing pigs.
Protekta is the sole distributor in Canada of AX3, developed at the University of Copenhagen and manufactured in Denmark.
“A lot of the soy protein products, you start with one kilo of the soybean meal, you process it, you end up with one kilo of product at the end, you just suppress the anti-nutritional factors. In this process … they actually wash out the water-soluble fractions, so you start with two kilos, but you end up with only one kilo of actual soy protein concentrate and one kilo of secondary product or molasses that goes down a different stream,” said Smith.
“What also is unique is that it has a pH of 4, so it gets into the discussion of the acid binding capacity of the diet that we feed to the pig,” added Roger.
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“The piglet has a very limited amount of hydrochloric acid production. Hydrochloric acid works on pepsin to digest protein. The problem that we have, especially when we use diets that contain things like zinc oxide, when you put that zinc oxide into that hydrochloric acid before the piglet can start digesting protein, the hydrochloric acid has to buffer off the mineral. So, in order for the stomach to do what we want it to do, we have to maintain a pH of around 3 to 4, 4 ½, and when you put things like fish meal or zinc oxide or other products in there, that is on the positive side and it buffers off the acid.
“So, (acidity) and acid binding capacity is a big part of what this product does. It helps to encourage or sustain the pH in the stomach, so nutritionists and producers don’t need to purchase additional sources of organic acid to add into the diet to maintain or support digestion.
“You’re getting a high-quality protein source and you’re also getting a product that helps support the acid production in the gut,” said Smith.
Shaun Compton, who has returned to Pork Congress after a hiatus from the industry, took an opportunity during the banquet to address the event’s value for suppliers and their clients. Now director of business development for Novid, Compton won third place in the booth awards for his display of a massive composter.
He had been hired to help with marketing about 18 years ago, after Puratone developed a rotating composter especially suited for processing food waste and dead stock. One of its first sales was to Partners in Pork near Rimbey. More recently, one of the people who worked on the Puratone project had become involved with Novid, which manufactures a similar unit.
Compton said his return to the composting business, where he deals mainly with hog and poultry producers, has proven to be a great move.
“I started 18 years ago, left six years ago, and came back last year. In the hog industry, I’ve met some of my closest friends. When I came back last year, it was like I never left,” he said after accepting his booth award.
On the trade floor earlier in the day, he said the cylindrical composter is efficient, fast and very green.

“What you’re doing with in-vessel composting is controlling the environment for the microbes that are doing the work. With bunker composting, if you don’t go out and control the pile all the time, the microbes don’t get oxygen to them, so when they’re contained in a vessel, each time it rotates, it’s opening up the pile, oxygen flows freely,” he said.
“There’s very little odour if it’s managed properly. Pathogen control requires 130 degrees Fahrenheit for three days. It’s in the vessel for a longer period of time at a higher temperature, so the product that comes out (is composted by) natural microbial activity. Microbes feed off the carbon.”
The moisture comes from the animals put into the composter and there is no need to add heat or oxygen, since the microbes generate heat and oxygen is added when it turns.
He estimates that about 80 of the composters have been sold over the last 15 years, mainly to hog and poultry farms and to Hutterite colonies, where they are also used to compost food waste.
“This was always a good show for us,” said Compton, who has taken his display to about a dozen trade shows since last November.
Daniel Vasky, owner and manager of DanSon Skiold Canada Inc. made a personal visit to a dealer’s booth to help market his Danish-made feedmills.
Commissioning started in July on the first DanSon Skiold feedmill to be erected in Canada from the ground up.
DanSon Skiold had invited clients and guests late in May to tour the new mill, set up on the O.B. Colony north of Marwayne.
Vasky said that, while the company has been selling successfully throughout North and South America, he had set a goal of finding a customer who would buy and entire feedmill.
“We have a lot of customers in Canada who have a lot of Skiold stuff, but there is no one in Canada, until now, who has purchased a whole feedmill from Skiold.
“O.B. Colony became our customer about two years ago. There was a period of planning and discussion and, as of mid-June, the feedmill was almost done, with expectations that it could be started up and tested in July,” said Vasky.
While the mill has the capacity for commercial feed production, he does not know whether the O.B. leaders will take it there. They had sought a large and efficient feedmill to facilitate expansion of their beef and poultry operations, he said.
“They had been thinking in a narrow way, a little bit cautious. As the building is growing, and now the project is almost finished, some people are approaching them and trying to create some kind of business with them. So, all of a sudden, they have some options they didn’t have one and a half years ago.
“Now, they’re thinking differently. Are they going to be a commercial feedmill here? In my private opinion, yes, they have the ability to get there. They have the capacity. They can compete with some small commercial feedmills – no problem,” said Vasky.
Part of the attraction is the mixer, which has met some extraordinary performance standards, he said.

The smallest mixer in his lineup – the first of its kind in North America – is capable of mixing and unloading one tonne of feed in 76 seconds, which compares favourably with units that require five minutes or more just to mix that amount of product.
A German institute has tested the mixer for feed accuracy and rated it at 1:100,000, said Vasky. With that rating, any sample taken from the batch will have the same ingredients in the same proportions.
Vasky said he hopes the mill at O.B. will become a showcase for future sales.
“We have colonies that have old feedmills and need and update. Hoping they will view this site and use our technology.”
The primary warehouse for DanSon Skiold is located on the Iron Creek Colony, southeast of Edmonton and there are smaller parts and distribution centres in Edmonton, Lethbridge and Starland Colony.
In his opening remarks at the banquet on Wednesday, Laycock took time to acknowledge the volunteers and sponsors who have invested time, energy and cash into creating a successful event. He asked people to send prayers for past volunteers and exhibitors Vince Gabert & Rick Barva, who were both hospitalized and struggling at the time of the show. Gabert, a nutritionist with Masterfeeds, was being treated for cancer. Barva had been severely injured, including head trauma, during a vehicle collision late in May. He is recovering, but neither he nor his wife, Brenda have been able to work. They have received tremendous support from friends and family, including a Go Fund Me campaign that had raised more than $9,000 by the end of July.
Laycock then introduced Councillor Michael Dawe, who brought greetings from the City of Red Deer on behalf of Mayor Tara Veer. Unable to attend in person, Veer wrote in a message to the gathering that Alberta Pork Congress is “revered as one of Alberta’s premier agricultural events, providing social and networking opportunities in addition to being Western Canada’s largest and longest-running trade show.”
She said Red Deer has a history of agricultural excellence and that the City is honoured to be the chosen location for Pork Congress.
Laycock went on to emcee the annual awards, starting with the Ambassador, Team and Lifetime presentations.
Presented by Donna Van Gorp from Zoetis, the Ambassador Award for 2019 went to Pat Monaghan of Paragon Pork, who was first encouraged to emigrate from Ireland by a fellow countryman, the legendary nutritionist, Frank Aherne. While Pork Congress typically plays a video for each of the three recipients, in this case the production team was unable to nail Pat down long enough for the interviews, so Van Gorp gave a biography on his behalf.

She said he had grown up on a cattle and sheep farm before being named manager of the first of two hog farms that he would manage in Ireland. With Aherne’s encouragement, he and his wife, Rose, moved to Blackfalds, Alta., where he found a job with Alberta Pig Company. He worked there for a short time before moving over the Paragon Pork, where he is now in charge of two barns – Eclipse Pork and Parkland Pork. In addition to volunteering with the Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop team, Monaghan is a member and former president of the Lacombe Kinsmen.
Earlier this year, he made presentations at producer meetings on behalf of Prairie Swine Centre, sharing his experience with maximizing genetic potential at the farms he manages, and he stressed the importance of building strong farm teams and a culture of success. He and Rose have two daughters and they enjoy camping and spending quiet times out west.
The MNP Farm Team Award went to Will Kingma and his crew at Kingdom Farms, south of Bentley. Kingma introduced his managers during the video, including Andreas Werner, Bonitano Nadriega and Renanto Valsorable.
During the video, he stressed his philosophy around building a successful and effective farm team:
“I think you need to be able to understand the people you’re managing and leading. You need to be willing to work harder than they work. One of the things I try and do is be flexible, so if they need a weekend off, I just say, you know, make sure it works amongst yourselves and if it does, you know, help each other out. They have the flexibility to do the things they want personally.”
Kingdom Farms hosts a variety of staff events and Kingma goes into each of his barns to work alongside his people.
“It’s really about them, and I’m kind of lucky to have them,” he said.
The Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by Real Solutions Plus and Rapid Strides, went to Stewart Watson of Genesus.
His video described the small Yorkshire farm where he was raised and how he developed a liking for pigs, and then follows his university education and nutrition research before moving to Canada in 1975.
“In Canada, I started working basically as farm management. I soon found (quite a lot difference). The main thing today, if you’re looking at getting in the swine industry, for me it’s always been a very interesting, intriguing business. The animals are so responsive to humans, to human touch,” he said.
After hours, he and his wife like to relax in countryside, enjoying the “smells, grass, trees, and wind in our hair.”
Stewart said during his video the advantages he has seen include building relationships with clients and creating friendships through loyalty and trust.
“I feel that I’ve been successful in this because of transfer of information, the acceptance of clients and to be able to go out there and offer information transfer, transfer management, to help us be successful and more effective and more efficient. Thanks to all in industry, especially within feed and genetics. Thank God for giving me the ability to do the things I can do, that I enjoy doing and that I have the health and the ability to do it.”
At the podium afterward, he thanked the people who believed in him and found him worthy of the award.
“The industry is constantly changing as we are becoming more and more globalized. It is not for the faint of heart, but we must press on. My passion, my goal was to assist in the best way possible so you could achieve your goals. I did what I loved, and I loved what I did, and your success was my success.”
Next on stage were Ian Moon and Rick Ackerman of Olymel in Red Deer to present their annual Reach for the Top awards, recognizing producers who do the best job of hitting the plant’s targets in four key areas.
2019 was the sixteenth year for the awards to producers who excel in key areas of food safety, animal health and welfare and plant and producer efficiency, said Moon. This year, there were 75 producers who qualified in each of those categories. Each of those farms received a cheque for $500. A Grand Champion award of $1,000 went to the producer who had the highest scores overall.

The following is a breakdown of the 2019 Reach for the Top recipients:
Food Safety: Twilight Colony. High Health and Core Weight: Fairville Colony. Core Lean: Vanderschee Farms. Grand Champion: Bentley Colony. Exhibitor’s awards were also handed to exhibitors who did an exceptional job of presenting their products and services.
This year’s winners, from First to Third, were Gary Desmarais with Monitrol, Cody Horvath and Shaun Heldt with Advanced Agri-Direct and Shaun Compton from Novid.
The year saw the first annual BBQ rib contest at the conclusion of the trade show Thursday, it was well received. Just when about to start tasting the skies opened up and the rain came down. All worked out well the entertainment was inside to keep your toes tapping while tasting the rib samples. Fan favourite was won by Maserfeeds and overall winner was Fortified.
Alberta Pork Congress is operated by a team of volunteers from the pork industry along with the staff of ConventionALL Management. APC thanks all of its sponsors, participants and attendees.
Plans for 2020 are underway and will be announced later in the year. •
— By Brenda Kossowan