Olymel RFTT Grand Champion Erskine Colony

Connecting and celebrating form the glue that binds people inside Alberta’s pork industry, regardless of fortunes and misfortunes that affect the industry.
“I think it’s incredibly important for us in this industry to celebrate,” awards chair Steve Laycock said in addressing the banquet crowd at Alberta Pork Congress on June 14.
The 47th-annual trade show saw the return of its awards banquet for the first time since the COVID pandemic shut down social gatherings in 2020. In wrapping up the presentations, Laycock remarked on the absolute necessity of celebrating people who have distinguished themselves within their industry.
“We know that we have some trying times, but we do know that, together, as a group, as a team and looking at all of these examples, the humility of some of these award individuals, I think is astounding,” said Laycock.

“The fact that they’re referring to the teams around them that make their success, I think really speaks highly of the individuals.”
Back under full steam, Alberta Pork Congress was nearly sold out and attracted a strong crowd of producers the first of its two days, with a bit of a drop off on the second. Attendees and exhibitors wore their best smiles, but a common comment was that the atmosphere inside Westerner Park’s Exhibition Hall was somewhat subdued.
Brandon Snyder, owner of Carstairs, Alberta-based Glass-Pac, said he did not anticipate making any large sales, given the very limited amount of construction and renovation being performed when producers face an uncertain future.
However, he said it’s important to maintain connections within the industry, even though it’s a week during which he will spend a lot of money with little chance of a good return.
“You almost have to be here to make sure people don’t forget you’re around,” said Snyder.

“It’s a big social. There’s people who you don’t see all year long. You don’t see them unless you come here.”
Okotoks-based Kelsee Downie, attending her first Alberta Pork Congress and fresh from the World Pork Expo in Iowa, said she attends to support her clients and to meet and chat with the producers they serve. Downie is Key Accounts Manager for Kemin Canada and joined Darren Bates in the Barentz/Pestell Nutrition booth.
“It’s a great opportunity to connect in and . . . being here to support our industry partners and see what we can do for them. It’s nice to hear on the ground level what the producers are up to and understanding their challenges,” she said.
A few meters over, sisters Vanessa and Brooklyn Mickel were making a first-time visit on behalf of the STARS air ambulance based in Calgary. STARS was interested in attending APC to highlight its new logo and raise awareness and cash through donations and sale of merchandise, said Vanessa.

“We reached out to the event organizer and asked if there was an opportunity for us to attend the event. It’s kind of our peak audience.”
The Mickel sisters were kept busy with visits from producers, some of whom shared their own stories about how STARS had affected their lives or those of people they love.
In a video message to the gathering on banquet night, Red Deer Mayor Ken Johnson remarked on the pork industry’s importance to his city and the area it serves, representing a population of about 300,000.
“I’d like the thank the leadership, membership and all producers and suppliers of the Alberta Pork Congress for choosing Red Deer as your host community and giving us all the occasion to reflect on the critical importance of your service and contributions to our local, provincial, national and international economies and for your role in ensuring global food security,” he said.
The awards program featured some structural changes, including addition of a logistics award for Olymel’s Reach for the Top presentations and addition of a Rising Star Award to the Pork Congress group.
Presented by Ian Moon, Olymel’s hog procurement manager for Western Canada, the Reach for the Top program presents cash awards of $500 each in four separate categories plus $1,000 for the Grand Champion. The five finalists in each of the awards, based on their performance scores in the previous calendar year, were invited to attend the banquet as guests of Olymel.
Reach for the Top winners for 2023 are as follows:

• Food Safety – for clear tattoos and for loads that arrive as planned: Byemoor Colony
• High Health – for fewest carcass health concerns, viscera health concerns, carcass demerits, condemnations and low arrival mortality: Arnold and Aria Van Ginkle
• Core – for highest percentage of graded hogs that meet plant targets: Bentley Colony
• Logistics – for arriving 30 or fewer minutes before schedule and fewest loads cancelled: Erskine Colony
• Grand Champion – highest accumulated score: Erskine Colony
  

Alberta Pork Congress award winners were introduced via video recording created just prior to the show.

Martin Waldner, with award sponsors
Precision Vet Services and Prairie Hog Country

INDUSTRY AMBASSADOR –
Martin Waldner,
Hartland Colony, Camrose County
Martin Waldner has had a storied career in swine management, starting as a teenager working in the hog barn at Pleasant Valley and eventually becoming barn manager. When the colony split in 2007 to build Hartland, near Bashaw, he was chosen to manage the new barn and has held that position ever since.
His determination to learn and served the industry took him outside of the barn and sent him across the country, including committee work and giving presentations at the Red Deer Swine Technology Workshop, volunteering in the pig booth at the Calgary Stampede and serving the maximum possible of six consecutive years on the Alberta Pork Board of Directors.
“That is where I learned most of what I know (about) what is involved in the challenges in the pork industry. It is something you can be proud of, the time and effort you’ve spent, being part of that and it’s for the fellow producer and for the whole industry.”

Waldner said talking with visitors at the Stampede was a different sort of learning experience from the seminars and workshops offered within the industry.
“That really is an eyeopener as to how disconnected the general public is to what all is involved on the production side of where the meat comes from and the work that goes into raising the animals for the industry.”
He said the support of his family and his farm team allowed him the time to participate in those outside activities that he views as so important to understanding and developing the industry.
“We have to constantly strive to do better, so that we’re always on top and make sure that we have the best product in the world.
“I also can’t thank our Dear Lord enough for the good health that he has provided me so I could participate at the level that I did and for the family and friends that I’ve built in this industry. I want to cherish those moments for the rest of my life.”

Sinke Farms, with award sponsor MNP

FARM TEAM AWARD –
Sinke Farm, Lethbridge County
Adrian Sinke first came to Canada as an exchange student in the mid-1980s, looking to establish a career in agriculture.
“For me, it was an eyeopener for the possibilities in agriculture in Western Canada, I made up my mind that I was going to finish school in the Netherlands and try and emigrate to Canada.”
Back home, the bug that bit Sinke also nipped his parents. Following his footsteps in 1987, his parents sold their farm and moved the family to Canada, settling in Southern Alberta.
“I came with the mindset that it didn’t matter to me what kind of farm I had, I just wanted to have a farm,” said Sinke.
He purchased a Lethbridge-area hog farm in 1991, starting the business that would expand into field crops and Optimum Manufacturing, maker of smooth-hole, hopper-bottom bins.
During the 30 years since buying his hog farm, Sinke has put together a team of people who are engaged in their work and offer a great deal of talent and insight to his business.
“We have a very low employee turnover. I think what keeps us together is trying to create a good team environment and listen to each other; try and treat others the way you want to be treated and, if somebody comes up with a good idea, implement it and reward them.”

Important elements in developing a strong farm team include keeping lines of communication open and offering a benefits package that encourages staff to look at their jobs as a lifelong career from which they can securely retire.
“My role is kind of to oversee it all. I try as a manager to make myself not needed. Sometimes, I can’t resist to stick my nose in things.”
Sinke closed his video with an acknowledgement of his employees and managers and a few thoughts about the value of diversifying.
“What makes it worthwhile, the employees work on the farms, you see their families grow up, you see their contributions to the different communities, you see the influence their contribution has on the communities, I think that makes it all worthwhile.”
He thanked his team, his family and his Lord.
“We could not have done this without his help and blessing.”

Dr. Cordell Young, with award sponsor Alberta Pork Congress

RISING STAR AWARD –
Cordell Young, DVM, Lethbridge
Good teamwork is essential in a successful herd health practice, says a 29-year-old veterinarian who turned his back on beef to work with pigs.

Born on a mixed grain and cattle farm near Yorkton, Sask., Cordell Young became enthralled with herd health during his studies at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine.
“With population medicine, we’re really able to take a zoomed-out view, a high-level preventative view, to a lot of the issue. What, I think, provides some of the satisfaction to doing my job well, is actually the fact that we’re impacting a lot of animals’ lives at any given time.”
That high-level point of view appears to dovetail well with Young’s lifetime ambition, formed in Grade 8, to pilot a piece of metal off of a runway, take it into the air and land it where he wants it to land.
Young recently earned his wings at the Excel Flight Training Centre in Lethbridge, where he was photographed for his video profile.
“That is such incredible evidence to me of what learning can do. It just gives a great perspective whenever we do get up in the air.”
Back on the ground, Young uses his negotiating skills to help the producers he serves make decisions that are best for their farms, and he emphasizes the importance of working in concert with a nutritionist whose expertise is essential in forming those decisions. However, he told Prairie Hog Country recently that some people would rather be told what to do and has been fired by those who don’t like to make their own decisions.
“This balance of technology and people, these two aspects to our industry, I think, are going to be based on the culture that we create today. The people that we have coming into the industry now are going to join or leave based on culture. There is an incredible need to have a good culture of collaboration and healthy competition. It’s really in our hands today.”
Young started his career as a member of the Demeter group, and later joined Red Deer-based veterinarian Kurt Preugschas at Precision Veterinary Services. He works from a satellite office based at his home in Lethbridge and aided by an assistant, Mark Asuncion.
His early mentors include farm veterinarian Kent Weir, now practicing at Lloydminster and WCVM Professor John Harding.
“I would say Dr. John Harding had the greatest impact on my desire and passion for pigs, showing kind of the gravity of our understanding and what we bring to our profession,” said Young in his video interview.
“Some of the skills that are needed are certainly the ability to make decisions; an evidence-based approach is critical, and then being able to make decisions based on that is even more critical.”
Young stressed that making and maintaining connections with other partners is a strength within the industry.
“The best way for people new to the industry to get involved, I think, is truly to just get involved. Things like the Alberta Pork Congress, Banff Pork Seminar, the Prairie Swine Centre meetings, the Lethbridge Livestock Expo, everywhere that the industry is brought together, that fosters growth, that fosters progress.”

Jonathan Klok, Peter’s son,
with award sponsors Cargill and Accelerated Ag

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT –
Peter Klok, Lethbridge County
The very few commercial hog producers left in Alberta must share their knowledge with fellow producers and help find solutions for the problems within their industry, says a producer who started his herd in 1975 with three sows.
Peter Klok said in his video interview for Alberta Pork Congress that he worked as a carpenter, building his herd and facilities slowly over the ensuing 45 years.

He served for 12 years as a director on the Western Hog Exchange Board and also served two terms with the Lethbridge North Irrigation District.
His primary interests on the WHE board were in getting a better footing for the swine industry and working with the packing plants to share profits and losses.
“(Our) biggest problem has been volatility in pricing for the last 45 years. When the prices are down, you’ve got to deal with your banker. When the prices are up, you’ve got to deal with Revenue Canada. Some of those basic, moving factors have always been in play and haven’t gone away.”
Klok said an effort was made to share profits with plants but fell apart after four years.
“We’ve lost political support – we probably never had it. We’re not a large industry. Today, maybe 150 hog farmers left, one single packing plant for Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia; the competition is not there.
“If we could work together with the packing plant and do some profit sharing – or loss sharing – to take away some of the volatility, those would be great initiatives,” he said.
Klok was unable to attend the banquet. His award was accepted on his behalf by his son, Jonathan Klok.
Within his remarks during the presentation, Laycock said the awards are provided through the kindness of industry and suppliers, stating that there is a need for more sponsors to step forward and keep the momentum.
“I encourage everyone, as we get back in the saddle after a long hiatus, to recognize the importance of these awards. They mean a lot to individuals and to us as an industry recognizing these people and these strengths among us.”
Show president Laurie Brandly, in addressing the 2023 Alberta Pork Congress, asked people to save the dates of June 12 and 13, 2024, for the 50th-anniversary edition. This year would have been the 49th edition, but two years were missed after the outbreak of COVID-19 early in 2020, said Brandly.
“Stay tuned for plans to celebrate this milestone and some extra sponsorship opportunities.”
Brandly said the 2023 Alberta Pork Congress sold 140 booths to 86 companies, representing every part of the hog sector, from genetics to pharmaceuticals to equipment to feed companies and nutrition.
She felt some encouragement from stronger pork prices and better margins in the first few weeks following the show.
“All of us in the hog sector hope that prices will continue to come back a bit more, with a further reduction in feed costs.”
Alberta Pork Congress is a non-profit organization, operated by a volunteer board with support from Calgary-based ConventionALL Management. •
— By Brenda Kossowan

The pig shot target game was a hit at the Prairie Hog Country booth