Pork Congress turns 25
By ROBERT IRWIN
The Ontario Pork Congress is a great place to see the latest in technology, but it's the people who make it a unique event, says this year's Ontario Pork Congress (OPC) chair Craig Hebert. "There's a lot of friendship and fellowship, and just talking you learn a lot," explains Hebert, herdsman responsible for 550 sows at VanRaay Farms, Dashwood.The annual event usually draws about 3,000 visitors, but Hebert, serving in his ninth year on the OPC organizing committee, is predicting an increase in paid attendance for this year's show June 25-26: "The number of producers is down, but I think the number of people working in the industry has increased."
There has been a drop in offshore visitors since the show and sale of breeding stock were discontinued a few years ago, but Hebert says there is still some interest from the international swine community.
This year the congress celebrates its 25th year. Organizers plan to honour past volunteers with an appreciation banquet June 27, beginning at 5 p.m. "We've sent out between 600 and 700 invitations," estimates Hebert.
There's a new location for the popular Gold Event program for herdspeople. "We kind of outgrew our space," Hebert explains. It runs June 24, between 5 and 10 p.m. at the Victorian Inn. Herbert expects the event to draw more than 300 people.
Federal Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief will be on hand for opening ceremonies June 25. Hebert hopes there will be a message aimed at youth and the future of agriculture.
Organizers have erected an extra tent to cope with an upsurge in exhibitor demand. "We're looking at about 30 to 40 more exhibitors than we usually get," says Hebert.
More than 200 suppliers to Ontario producers have registered as exhibitors.
Ontario Pork has tried to assist with space constraints by redesigning the usual space, says the pork board's communications director, Keith Robbins. The board has established a centre of excellence area, which includes consumer marketing features, promotional items and educational videos.
Displays by University of Guelph, Prairie Swine Centre and Veterinary Infectious Diseases Organization are included in the pork board area.
Crowds are expected to be heavy June 26, when Farmer's Daughter - 1997 country music group of the year - entertains at the Stratford Fairgrounds.
backBY NORMAN DUNN
A straightforward ultrasonic sow pregnancy testing system that can give reliable results just 21 days after service has been approved for use on Danish farms by the national committee for pig breeding health and production.The Ultra Scan 45 pregnancy tester shows a clear two-dimensional picture of fetuses on a small screen. National pig committee tests of the apparatus indicated that clear results were possible even at 19 days after service. A 21-day test proved to have a 96-per cent accuracy and 24-day tests with the Ultra Scan 45 were 100-per cent reliable, according to the national committee.
The five-pound portable battery-powered scanner costing C$8,000 can be used successfully on sows in a lying position; a test takes a maximum one minute per animal. Its use by farmers is being actively encouraged by hog production advisers in Denmark, where a lot of publicity is being currently given to the efficiency losses involved where empty sows are not identified quickly enough.
The national average non-productive period per litter is 17 days. According to the national pig committee, correct identification of empty sows at even 24 days after service could reduce this non-productive period per litter by five days and result, at present average performance, in an annual extra 0.7 pigs per sow.
Only a few hours' tuition is required for successful operation of the scanner, according to the Danish pig committee. Other uses for the equipment include identification of bladder infections and ovarian cysts in sows.
Ultrasonic screening is so precise that it shows the heart beating in embryos, allowing dead litter members to be identified early-on. The Ultra Scan marketing company, EuroVet ApS, sells the equipment as a package including a practical demonstration and intensive training for the prospective operator.
For more information: National Committee for Pig Breeding, Health and Production Axelborg, 3 Axeltorv, DK-1609 Copenhagen V, Denmark. Contact is Fleming Thorup, tel 011 45 33 11 60 50, fax: 011 45 33 11 68 14.
back
At your service
There's been an explosion in the number of artificial insemination companies serving the genetic needs of the Ontario pork industry
BY ROBERT IRWIN
For a long time after commercial artificial insemination (AI) began in Ontario in the early 1970s, it was easy for Ontario producers to decide where to purchase semen. Ontario Swine AI Association, a producer co-operative, was the only game in town.In the past few years, 10 other professionally licensed Ontario units have sprung up to compete for a piece of the AI pie. How you decide which is best for you depends on much more than the quick overview provided by the chart on pages 18-19.
You'll want to compare which unit provides the boar performance information you're seeking. Details such as number of sperm per bottle (three billion is common), the kind of AI rods supplied, how long the courier keeps semen in transit, or the manner in which semen temperature is maintained during delivery may be more important to one producer than another.
Cost may be a determinant, too. Prices vary from a heavily discounted low of $4.50 per insemination, to a high of $35 and even more for specific lines.
Independent AI consultant Astrid van Eeden Petersman says often it comes down to "what works best in your barn." She says Agriculture Canada regulations have generally kept standards at Canadian AI centres well above their American counterparts.
Those who like dealing with experienced veterans might consider First Choice Genetics, Tavistock. Long before launching First Choice, the Stein family provided the boar nucleus for the first producer co-operative and pioneered the use of frozen semen.
The current incarnation of that original producer co-operative is Ontario Swine Improvement Inc.'s (OSI) just-launched 200-head stud, where you can purchase semen from the top 10 per cent of the Canadian boar population. OSI is research-oriented and like several other units provides training and consulting for maximum reproductive efficiency in customer herds.
National Swine Genetics, Strathroy, which opened in December last year, provides training sessions, too, and like OSI will house and collect customer boars for a fee.
Hay Bay Genetics, Napanee, is ideally isolated away from traditional pig country and is the only Ontario unit claiming negative status for Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Disease.
Network AI, Chatham, owned by the Van Haren family, emphasizes customer service. The family says a key ingredient is a focus on customers in the surrounding counties of Essex, Kent, Lambton, Middlesex and Elgin.
The family is pulling out of the hybrid gilt business to concentrate on purebred genetics for commercial customers who want to produce their own replacement animals.
Customers keep a core purebred nucleus of purebred York and Landrace sows derived from selected Van Haren Dutch and traditional lines. To obtain their own F1 replacement gilts they breed these lines to proven semen in accordance with a Van Haren genetic program.
"The idea is to do everything we can to help them close [their herds] for cost efficiency and improved health status," explains Patrick Van Haren.
Total Swine Genetics, Tillsonburg, owned by Arnold and Kathy Ypma, offers a unique 80-per cent farrowing rate guarantee accompanied by a total herd productivity program that helps producers pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of their breeding program.
Acre T Farms Ltd., Brussels, one of the first farms to be approved as a Maple Leaf Signature Pork breeding stock supplier, is reportedly using a Cachette Flat Pack system, considered by researchers to maximize sperm longevity.
Hilltop Sires, Gorrie, is the only facility offering National Pig Development's bloodlines. NPD says it has exclusive use of the proprietary Gene Flat Pack system to ensure semen quality.
Herrondale AI, St. Marys, specializes in serving Pig Improvement Customers (PIC) with semen from PIC bloodlines.
Struthers Research, Guelph, which recently landed a $50-million genetics agreement with China, features exclusively semen from imported bloodlines.
Shamrock Genetics, Varna, offers York/Duroc, York and Landrace semen along with pooledproduct. One of the unit's drawing cards is Duroc semen from the herd with the highest estimated breeding values in Canada.
back
Poor injections poke holes in pork's image
DR. ERNEST SANFORD
Last summer I had occasion to investigate injection site abscesses in hams of market hogs. I was surprised and somewhat disappointed since most producers know, and have known for a long time now, that injecting in the ham is a big "no no." As the investigation proceeded, another surprise emerged. The injections causing the abscesses had not been given in the finishing barn, but rather when the pigs were much younger, probably as sucklers.Can injection abscesses in sucklers last until market weight? Beef producers are currently being educated on that very topic. The national Beef Quality Assurance Program launched several years ago by the Canadian Cattlemen's Association and related organizations includes, among other things, recommendations on the proper sites and ways to administer injections. Recommendations emphasize avoiding injecting in the rump and going to the neck instead. Beef producers are further advised to be even more vigilant about injections to calves, since muscle damage from injections in young animals can leave scars and blemishes that last until market.
As well, the area of damage actually becomes larger, creating a blemish that grows as the animal grows. Although pork producers have been giving injections in the neck rather than the ham for decades now, many are unaware that injection damage in the very young pig actually persists and even grows as the pig grows.
Injection-site lesions consistently rank among the top items when restaurateurs, retailers and packers are asked about their major quality concerns. Certainly, much of this concern comes from the direct financial losses that occur because of excessive trim.
Currently, the specific producer is not docked for the excess trim, but that will change. In the big scheme of things, however, our entire industry ultimately loses, often irrevocably, from the loss of consumer confidence and acceptance of pork that results from the adverse publicity generated when one of these abscesses (scars, broken needles) gets through to the consumer. We all suffer and have to pay the price then.
Take-home message
Whenever anything is injected into muscle, some damage occurs. Given time, the damage area heals. Healing produces scar tissue, however, which may take a long time to resolve. A scar becomes a poor quality, less desirable, cut. The severity of damage depends on:
* Direct damage from the needleOn April 8, the Pork Quality Assurance Program was launched nationally. This initiative is being pursued by most pork exporting countries and is definitely demanded by consumers in the major pork importing countries.* How irritating the injected material is
* The amount (volume) of injected material
* Age of pig - the younger the animal the greater the area of residual damage as the animal ages
S. Ernest Sanford, DVM, is a swine specialist with Boehringer Ingelheim in Burlington
back