Suncrest Colony near Steinbach, MB celebrated the opening of the first new barn in Manitoba in the last seven years on March 4.
Jim Long, the president of Genesus Genetics says what makes the opening truly extras costs more money.ordinary is the fact the new Suncrest sow barn is the first new sow barn in Manitoba in seven years.
“Seven years is a long time and it reflects some of the dynamics affecting the Manitoba
industry, the U.S. – Canada dollar exchange rate, M-COOL, industry low margins, and a moratorium on new sow barns imposed by the Manitoba government,” says Long. “These four points combined with general lack of enthusiasm (bullishness) in the Manitoba swine industry has led to next to no new barn infrastructure investment for the last decade.”
He says this in itself leads to an aging barn and equipment inventory and if there is no new investment, it will naturally lower production as facilities go out of business. The price of new barns is going up as new building codes, animal welfare, and environmental regulations, continue to add costs.
Bob Kleinsasser, the Hog Boss at Suncrest, says they built the new barn with the latest technologies, Big Dutchman ESF system, Gestal feeding system in lactation and the latest equipment and feeders from Crystal Springs (a close neighbour).
Several hundred people came to the opening to see the latest in sow barn technology. “By nature, most if not all of us in the swine industry are optimistic people,” said Long. “We saw a new barn built to last with the best technology designed by people who know pigs. It was fantastic to be with the Suncrest Colony people as they celebrated a big investment in the future. Faith in themselves and in the swine industry.”
Claude Vielfaure, the chief operator officer with Hylife says, to maintain the viability of Manitoba’s pork production and processing industries, there is a need to replace older hog finishing barns and add new ones.
Vielfaure says Maple Leaf is running well below full capacity and, while Hylife is running close to capacity, it could also use more pigs, and with an aging infrastructure, maintaining those barn
“It’s been quite a few years that we haven’t been able to build barns in Manitoba and so our facilities today are actually getting old,” he said. “You need to be replacing a certain portion of your faculties on a yearly basis so we’re way behind the 8-ball on that one.”
Industry people at the Open House kept talking about the importance of finally getting a new barn built and operating, but one in seven years is a far cry from what one person says the province needs, which is more like 100, or even 200 new barns just to stay up with current production.
Vielfaure says Manitoba Pork’s research on the cost of finishing barns shows it’s certainly at a fairly bigger price than it was 10 years ago, because of cost of concrete, construction, wood and competitiveness out there on the construction side.
“Cost of a finishing barn is probably close to doubled in the last 10 to 15 years and it’s a fairly significant number and so you need to be able to pay it off,” he says. “It’s not only about building a barn but being competitive and being able to pay for that facility.”
While it’s good to see a new sow barn, and in Suncrest’s case they didn’t have an option, Vielfaure says it’s not so much about building sow barns or nurseries, as it is about finishing barns.
Jason Manness, procurement manager of Maple Leaf Foods agrees with him. Building sow barns and shipping Isoweans, baby piglets at 50 and 80 pounds south, does nothing for the processing industry in Manitoba.
“We have over three million pigs a year that go across the border to the U.S. that could certainly be finished in Manitoba and make this industry a lot more sustainable and viable long term,” said Vielfaure. •
