Maple Leaf Shares Award Winners
At a producers meeting in Lethbridge on October 30th awards were presented in various categories.
Hog Delivery Performance Award – 3rd Keho Lake Colony, 2nd Fox Valley Colony, 1st Roseglen Colony
Meat Quality – 3rd Fox Valley Farming, 2nd Willow Creek Colony, 1st Elmspring Colony
Weight in Core over 200 hogs/week – 3rd Roseglen Colony, 2nd Spring Point North Colony, 1st Armada Colony
Weight in Core under 200 hogs/week – 3rd Blue Ridge Colony, 2nd New Elm Colony, 1st Willow Creek Colony
High Index Award – 3rd Starbrite Colony, 2nd Green Acres Colony, 1st Blue Ridge Colony
Overall Signature Award, which takes in all criteria into consideration – 3rd Gold Spring Colony, 2nd Blue Ridge Colony, 1st Willow Creek Colony.
Congratulations to all the top place finishers in each of the categories. •
Sask Pork Adds to Team
Sask Pork is thrilled to welcome Karolina Steinerova as our new Producer Services, Manager.
Nearing the completion of her PhD in swine behaviour and welfare at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, she brings a strong background to her role.
Originally from the Czech Republic and in Canada since 2021, she is committed to building trusting relationships with pig producers and improving the Canadian swine industry for both people and pigs.
Please help us in welcoming Karolina to the Sask Pork team! •
Topigs Norsvin Hand Out Awards
Topigs Norsvin recently hosted a their annual Customer Appreciation and Awards Dinner.
The summary of the production award winners and runner-up winners are listed by category. The Western Canadian winners are:
Herds <500 sows
Farrowing Rate: Spring Point Colony (MB) 90.67%
Runner-up Pembina Hog Farm (MB) 89.80%
Pigs Born Alive/litter : Pembina Hog Farm (MB) 16.54
Runner-up: Cool Spring Colony (MB) 15.89
Pigs Weaned/Sow/Year: Pembina Hog Farm (MB) 35.52
Runner-up Cool Spring Colony (MB) 34.45
Herds 501-1200 sows
Farrowing Rate: Winner Evergreen Colony (MB) 97.1%
Runner-up Trileaf Colony (MB) 94.3%
Pigs Born Alive/litter: Trileaf Colony (MB) 16.12
Runner-up Evergreen Colony (MB) 15.98
Pigs Weaned/Sow/Year: Winner Evergreen Colony (MB) 36.50
Runner-up Trileaf Colony (MB) 35.55
Herds 1201-2000 sows
Farrowing Rate: Winner Sunnyside Colony (MB) 92.1%
Runner-up Silver Pine Site 1 (MB) 92.0%
Pigs Born Alive/litter: Winner Stanley Pork Ltd. (MB) 15.54
Runner-up Hidden Valley Colony (MB) 15.16
Pigs Weaned/Sow/Year: Winner Sunnyside Colony (MB) 34.36
Runner-up Stanley Pork (MB) 33.64
Herds 2001+ sows
Farrowing Rate: Winner Morris Piglets South (MB) 92.4%
Runner-up Sunnybrook Swine Site 2 (MB) 91.9%
Pigs Born Alive/litter: Morris Piglets South (MB) 15.26
Runner-up Crocus County Pork (MB) 15.18
Pigs Weaned/Sow/Year: Morris Piglets South (MB) 32.42
Runner-up Crocus County Pork (MB) 32.22
In addition each year they present an award for the best new start up herd. Winner for Western Canada was Cypress Colony (SK). Average Parity 1; Born Alive/Litter 14.2; Weaner/Litter 13.44; Weaned/Mated Female/Year 34.4.
Congratulations to all the winners.•
Manitoba Pork Shared Cuts
Manitoba Pork recently joined forces with Canada Pork to deliver live education and butcher demonstrations to students and their instructors at Red River College’s Paterson GlobalFoods Institute (culinary program) in Winnipeg and the Russ Edwards School of Agriculture & Environment (meat processing program) at Assiniboine Community College in Brandon. Facilitated by Jeremy Yin of Canada Pork, approximately 20 students in each program were given and overview of the Canadian Pork industry, the quality of Canadian pork, and the resources available to instructors and students.
The presentation was followed by a live butcher demonstration where a side of pork was broken down into numerous cuts for different food service applications. Aaron McGlaughlin, an industry consultant and former student, instructor, and butcher himself, provided a lively and engaging demonstration for the students that highlighted his creativity and knife skills to the amazement of the students, while Manitoba Pork’s Susan Riese was on hand to assist. •
Sask Pork Awards
During the banquet at the recent Sask Pork Industry Symposium three awards were presented.
Two were Sask Pork Awards of Distinction and one was Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan’s Champion Award.
Receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award was Florian Possberg.
Environmental Stewardship Award was Peter Gross of Sunnydale Colony.
Additionally Joe Kleinsasser received the – Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan Champion Award.
Congratulations to each of the winners. •
WAGS New Team Appointments
Western Ag Supply is proud to announce that Gordon Vandasselaar has stepped into the role of Regional Sales Manager for WAGS as of September. On top of his entrepreneurial spirit and passion for sales and customer service, Gord has 20 years of experience in sales and administration roles in the western Canadian livestock feed industry. In this role, he will support the growing WAGS sales team across Alberta and Montana.
WAGS is proud to officially announce Dr. Danilo Sotto as Director of Nutrition for Western Ag Supply. As the business has more than doubled in the past 5 years, it is important for WAGS continue to bolster the leadership of our nutrition team. While Danilo will continue to provide top swine nutrition consulting to hog barns across western Canada and Montana, he will also oversee the overall nutrition programs, regulatory and quality control for WAGS in this role.
With 26 years of experience in various nutrition programs in 5 different countries, Danilo is well suited to help continue to drive the value the WAGS nutrition programs provide to our loyal customer base. •
CBS Bio Platforms Celebrates the Grand Opening of New Volga, SD Facility
CBS Bio Platforms celebrated the grand opening of its latest production facility in Volga, South Dakota, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by industry partners, community members, and CBS team members. This advanced facility, officially commissioned in December 2023, marks the company’s commitment to serving the U.S., Canada, and export markets with innovative, science-backed animal feed solutions at the farm gate.
Krisjan Jones, President of CBS Bio Platforms, shared the company’s journey to Volga, recalling CBS’s founding by his father 40 years ago with a vision of delivering science-based feed solutions to the farm gate. Reflecting on the decision to establish the U.S. headquarters in South Dakota, Jones noted that after searching locations across multiple states, Volga’s proximity to CBS’s customer base and partnership with South Dakota State University made it the ideal choice. •
