14 08, 2014

M-COOL Retaliation Could Happen Sooner Than Later

When hog producers and industry representatives get together, especially internationally as they did in Des Moines, IA recently at the World Pork Expo, problems in the industry certainly get discussed, with the M-COOL issue being no exception.
Andrew Dickson, the general manager of Manitoba Pork Council says more Americans recognize the need to resolve Mandatory

14 08, 2014

PED Can Be Eliminated

Dr. Doug McDougald, a leading Ontario swine veterinarian, says he’s confident the province’s hog farmers can eradicate Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus, even though it’s probably now on more than 100 farms.
McDougald bases his optimism on the experience of Sunterra Farms, a Canadian company finishing approximately 350,000 pigs in the United States mid-west with most

  • Barn fire 01 070714 ashli
  • Barn fire 02 070714 ashli
  • Barn fire 06 070714 ashli
14 08, 2014

Barn no Match For  Fire

About 4,500 pigs died when fire swept through a hog barn at the Bentley Hutterite Colony on a Monday morning in early July.

Bentley Fire Chief Todd Gustafson said they got the call about 6:45 a.m. and when the first volunteer firefighters arrived heavy smoke was already billowing from one of two large hog barns

14 08, 2014

The Hog Industry’s Imbalance Between Production and Processing Continues

While the grain markets continue to slide, the hog profits rise, which not a good thing for grain producers, but an excellent thing for the hog industry, but in Manitoba the processing hog numbers dilemma continues.
Andrew Dickson, the general manager of Manitoba Pork says it’s critical to rebuild hog numbers within Manitoba to ensure

14 08, 2014

Alberta Pork Congress Celebrates 40 Years

Walking outside into the bright summer sun after the annual awards dinner and silent auction may have been the biggest surprise of all at the 40th-annual Alberta Pork Congress in Red Deer.

For a variety of reasons – mainly weather related – the show’s board of directors decided to move the dates this year to

14 08, 2014

Canada’s PigTrace Swine Traceability Program is Off and Running

PigTrace is an industry led, live animal traceability initiative to ensure protection, prosperity and peace of mind for the Canadian pork industry and its customers meaning every pig that comes or goes has a trace, no matter who, where or when.
The pig industry in Canada designed the new mandatory national pig traceability system to

14 08, 2014

The Focus Changes on Manure Management and Phosphorus Levels

Pumping manure is one thing, but applying it so the land base gets the right nutrients and governments don’t get their collective noses out of join is quite another.
Doug Redekop of Steinbach, MB., is the president and general manager of Precision Pumping, and manure pumping co-operative set up 20 years ago to service a

14 08, 2014

PED & Vaccine Update

PED & Vaccine UpdateStrict adherence to bio-security and sanitation protocols remains the chief defence against PED, even with the release in June of a vaccine developed to control the virus, says an Alberta veterinarian.

Red Deer-based swine specialist Egan Brockhoff joined Hank Harris and Joel Harris of Iowa-based Harris Vaccines Inc. on July 31 for a

14 08, 2014

From the Publisher’s Desk

From the publishers desk,
Greetings all, I am typing this just before heading out camping for the long weekend. The forecast is great so it should be a good time.I am reminded that a year ago we printed a story on the huge response to the Code of Practice. There were over 4700 comments after

12 08, 2014

One New Case of PED Virus Doesn’t an Epidemic Make

Some people in the hog industry are relaxing a mite while others keep pushing for heightened and even more stringent bio-security protocols as farms keep breaking out in the United States and things remain stable across Canada.
Dr. Chris Byra, the manager of the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network says with the exception of one