Recently Harry Siemens of the Prairie Hog Country Magazine accompanied a Mexican pig industry delegation to tour the Topigs Norsvin Delta Canada Research Centre near Woodlands, MB.
On June 27, 2018, Topigs Norsvin officially opening this new research center, where Siemens also toured the facility along with almost 1000 customers and other relations.
According to a Topigs Norsvin release of that day, Delta Canada is an important step in the further development of the company as a global supplier of genetics.
“Delta Canada will substantially increase the genetic progress in our Z-line and TN Tempo. It is part of Topigs Norsvin’s long-term breeding strategy and will substantially contribute to our target of doubling genetic progress in the coming period,” said Hans Olijslagers CTO of Topigs Norsvin.
Juan Jose Vega, the producer of the Mexican delegation, part of a family farm with 13,000 sows, said his father started the farm in 1959 with 1,500 laying hens. They also produce carrots and broccoli.
Today they also sell fresh pigs and pork not cold and processed using 13,000 sows.
“We have many numbers of farms, like 32 farms. And we have the site one, site two, and site three. And in some cases, we have the site two and three together that we call when to finish,” said Juan Jose. “We sell it in Mexico in the country in the central part of Mexico where we have our farm, where 75 per cent of the population of Mexico lives. We are very close to the market, and that’s where we send it. We sell everything alive. It’s a big market that is still being live pigs, but now it’s changing to process. We sell it to many customers. And they take the hogs, and then they take it to the local processing plants. And within the market in Mexico, it is using fresh pork, not chilled or frozen. So, we called the fresh, like fresh vegetables, but fresh in that it doesn’t get cold, the meat.”

The Topigs Norsvin research facility impressed the Mexican hog producer.
“Well, I saw a very high quality of technology because they are using equipment that I’ve never seen in another genetic company. Very good farm, and very orderly, and with a high standard of quality.”
Next, Jose Miguel Doporto, a professor, veterinarian, and one of the consultants working with Juan Jose Vega, the pig producer of Mexico, talked about the reason he visited the Topigs Norsvin facility.
“Oh, to see how they produce the health program mainly because at the end of the program, we know that it’s a good genetic program. Okay? But to know how they perform in their farms, and how they keep the health in the animals mainly,” said Mr. Doporto.
When asked if Juan Jose should switch over to Topigs genetics, he said that’s a difficult decision.
“Because to change something, it always brings on different situations. Okay? And then to change the genetics is not easy, because it’s crucial that you have the availability of animals to produce correctly and it will be very costly.”
Currently, Juan Jose gets his genetics from foreign companies, mainly.
“In the world, maybe three or four major companies are producing and selling their genetics. Yeah, it was impressive. Okay? Now we need to know how their animals perform under our conditions, which is different.”
Jose Cordoba Dominguez is the Topigs Norsvin Manager for México.
“I’m responsible for the Topigs Norsvin business in Mexico and Latin America. And, well, as responsible, I need to lead the team, put together the people, and bring the correct genes to multiply in Mexico and deliver to the customers,” said Jose Cordoba.
He started the position in Mexico six years ago, first one year as a consultant, and then the rest as a general manager. Introducing the program and Topigs Norsvin genetics to producers in Mexico is very challenging.
“It is challenging in terms of the genetic pig business is very consolidated.”

“We are only three major companies in the world, and one of them has a big market share in Mexico. Topigs was in Mexico, started in the early 2000s, but was not well managed. So, the management changed six years ago and coping with the challenge, and our market share went from four per cent to 16 per cent in five years.”
Topigs Norsvin Sales Manager John Sawatzky, who coordinated the tour, said this delegation is like many delegations from around the world and Canada that come to Delta Canada.
“They want to see what we’re doing, what we’re doing to improve our genetics, the lengths that we go to to create the best genetics to keep the farmer the most efficient,” said Sawatzky.
So far, the bulk of the groups come from outside of Canada.
“There are a lot of Canadian customers that want to come. The thing that they must have as a Canadian producer is a minimum of three nights away from pigs. So, if you’re working in a pig barn, that’s the difficult part. We want to bring as many people as possible, but they need to abide by our strict biosecurity regulations.”
Alberto Stephano, also a member of the Mexican group and consulting veterinarian, participated in the tour.
The Delta Canada Topigs Norsvin research facility viewing area and boardroom allow visitors from around the world to see the action and results without making any contact with the pigs.
Delta Canada houses 2600 pigs and will test 7500 young nucleus boars of the TN Tempo sire line and the Z-line dam line every year.
Delta Canada, just like the Delta center in Norway, is equipped with IFIR feeding stations for individual feed intake registration and a CT scanner that makes it possible to improve carcass composition, robustness, and meat quality faster and with greater accuracy. •
—By Harry Siemens