With only 14 producers registered with the BC Hog Marketing Commission, BC may well have the smallest commercial hog industry in the country. That does not mean almost nobody is growing hogs in the province. Quite the contrary – BC may actually have more hog producers than any other Canadian province.
“For BC, we currently have 1,495 small lot producers registered in PigTrace and average an additional 18/month,” PigTrace Canada director Jeff Clark reported early this year.
He stresses that is only a rough indication of the number of small lot producers, noting the PigTrace registrants include producers who may no longer be growing hogs, may only be growing them on a seasonal basis or may only grow one or two/year. The numbers bear that out. Together, all those small lot producers only shipped a total of 5,165 pigs to BC slaughterhouses in 2020.
Those numbers prompted BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries dairy and hog specialist Tom Droppo to commission a “Small Lot Pork Producer Management & Production Guide.”
Prepared by Prairie Swine Health Services, the manual was completed in June 2020 and posted on both the BCMAFF and BCHMC websites. Hard copies (in a binder) are also available at regional BCMAFF offices. It is divided into thirteen sections and designed so individual sections can be updated as practices and/or regulations change. There are sections on regulations affecting hog production, swine health, biosecurity, humane euthanasia, housing, nutrition and other topics.
“The manual is extensive but written in a style that is easy to read and easy on the eyes,” Droppo said.
He believes Section 3 “Production Economics” may be the most important section, noting it includes an enterprise budget calculator both small lot and commercial hog producers can use.
“Many (existing and aspiring small lot producers) do not know the true cost to raise a hog,” Droppo said. “If the calculator does nothing else, it (helps) the viewer consider the many expenses involved in raising pigs.”
BCHMC manager Christine Koch calls the manual a “lifesaver for me.” Since the 14 registered producers can only afford to hire her on a part-time basis, she does not have the time or mandate to work with the province’s small lot producers. “Now, when I get calls from small lot producers, I can refer them to the manual.”
One producer who has found a way to make a success out of small lot hog production is Shaw Family Farms of Langley.
After each starting with a single hog in 2014, Jamie Shaw and his partner Mel Snow have expanded their operation to the point where they now produce about 140 market hogs/year.
“This was a hobby that turned into a working farm,” Shaw says, noting he and Snow have retained their full-time jobs. “We work the farm from 4 pm till 7 pm on weekdays and 8 am till 4 pm on Saturdays.”
While Shaw and Snow may be on the clock, they stress the hogs are not.
“We leave our piglets with the sows for 7-8 weeks and then put them out to pasture for 7-8 months. We try to ship every Tuesday, some weeks we might have half a dozen hogs and the next week we could have none.”
While most commercial producers have extensive records, Shaw and Snow have few, claiming they are all about “old-school farming. We might only get two litters/year.”
Shaw identifies three key ingredients to their success: feed, an abattoir and meat shops.
It starts with their unique feeding program which relies on fresh, but discarded, fruit and vegetables.
“We started working with food recycling companies who bring us discarded or left-over fruit and vegetables from grocery wholesalers and retailers.”
The recycling companies regularly deliver pallets of unused produce to the farm, which hired farmworkers then sort through to separate out fruit and vegetables which the hogs will eat. The food recyclers like the fact Shaw does not charge a tipping fee (unlike a digester, composter or landfill) nor does he limit what they may deliver. Fruit and vegetables the farm cannot use is distributed to other farms or, in a worst case scenario, sent to the landfill.
“If we didn’t have the food recycling program, we wouldn’t be raising hogs anymore. We couldn’t afford it if we had to rely on only buying grain.”
Access to an abattoir is also critical. In Shaw’s case, that is Johnston Packers, one of the only two hog processors in the Fraser Valley. Johnston works with most of BC’s few remaining commercial hog producers for its own program but also does custom slaughtering for people like Shaw.
“If Johnston ever decides to get out of custom slaughtering, we’re out of business,” Shaw says, pointing out two other advantages to the arrangement. First, Johnston is a Class A slaughterhouse so Shaw can sell his hogs anywhere in the province and second, they already deliver to the same meat shops Shaw sells to. In effect, Shaw’s hogs hitch a ride to their destination on Johnston’s delivery trucks.
Those meat shops are the final piece of the puzzle. While most of Johnston’s own pork is delivered as ready-to-sell chops, roasts, ribs or sausage, Shaw’s hogs are sold as sides of pork and need to be cut up at the store.
“Most meat shops don’t have the labour to break down the carcasses so that limits who we can sell to,” Shaw said.
While he sells his pork for “about the same price” as commercial pork, the meat shops promote it as a “premium” product. Part of the reason is that unlike the rest of the pork Johnston’s delivers, Shaw’s supply is inconsistent, depending, as noted earlier, on how many of his hogs are ready for market in any given week.
Another reason is the story the meat shops are able to attach to Shaw’s pork. “Our hogs are raised naturally. We don’t take the teeth out and we don’t dock the tails. We treat every animal the way we would want to be treated. It’s the best example of humane treatment of animals.”
While Shaw and Snow are successful small lot producers, they illustrate the problem with the manual. Neither was aware it existed even though it has been available for viewing and/or downloading since last summer at www.bcpork.ca/small-lot-pork-producers/manual.
Droppo notes it will soon be joined by 13 short power point presentations, one for each section.
“The PPT’s are very practical,” Droppo said.
Whether they will attract many small lot producers remains to be seen. Shaw and Snow, for example, say they are not particularly interested in watching any videos or attending any potential seminars.
“We don’t have time for any of that,” the two say almost in unison. •
— By David Schmidt
