Welcome to the first edition of 2022, the 26th year of publishing Prairie Hog Country. Wow, where has the time gone. I once again cannot thank one and all in the hog sector enough for their encouragement, readership, loyalty and of course their financial support through ad bookings, so I can continue to bring Prairie Hog Country to you six times per year.

This first issue of this year has been throwing me some curve balls, a corrupt file so had to rebuild templates from scratch, got a pretty good handle on it, then discovered I needed to increase page count to fit everything in, so start over again. Nature of the business.

While I was not personally in Banff for the Banff Pork Seminar, Brenda was on site so there is an abundance of coverage. Many did choose to take in via the virtual format this year, which thanks to the committee for giving us that option. There was a very solid line up of speakers and breakout sessions.

Congratulations to the winners of the R.O. Ball young scientist award, Alison Jeffery (1st place) and Carley Camire (2nd pace). Also presented was the George Foxcroft Lectureship to Eduardo Beltranena, who was Georges’ first graduate student at the U of A. The award had extra special meaning this year with George passing away only weeks prior to BPS.

The hog sector lost another icon in December, Dr. Howard Fredeen, father of the Lacombe breed of pig. See his tribute on page 36.

You would have to live in a bubble or under a rock to not have been hearing about the trucking convoys. My hope and prayer is that regardless what side you are on; we all get along. Encourage one another, the hog sector is a tight knit group and we have seen many times over the years the support and camaraderie. Let’s remember that.

We are all so sick of the pandemic and cannot wait to see it in the rear-view mirror and no longer through the windshield. We want to gather together at trade shows, seminars, barn openings, workshops etc… Initial plans are being made for many of the in-person events to return. It will all be based on current restrictions at the time but I remain hopeful that I will get to see my piggy peeps in person in 2022. You can see the list on page 24. Also, managing staffing for many companies that are already short staffed, farming is very hard right now with the new variant.

ASF remains top of mind for all of us, as it continues to spread and cause havoc in pigs around the globe. We have recently seen the disease jump to Italy and last year it appeared in Dominican Republic and Haiti. That is scary close.

A couple of articles in this issue refer to hog prices looking encouraging, despite high feed costs. With hog inventory down again according to the latest Hogs & Pigs report, that too should help.

As always, I am only a phone call or email away.
Prairie Hog Country, Box 5536, Leduc, Alberta
T9E 2A1, 780.986.0962, fax 780.980.9640 or email: hogcountry@shaw.ca
Talk to you in April. •