We're Not Cows, Say Pig AIers

By JUNE PAYNE FLATH

Fifty pork producers and AI-industry
representatives met in Woodstock last month to
review the Artificial Insemination of Livestock Act
and agreed that they want the pork industry dealt
with separately from the cattle industry.
Meetings mostly geared to the cattle industry were
also held across the province  in recent weeks
after Minister of Agriculture Noble Villeneuve
requested a long-overdue review of the Act.
Leslie Woodcock, manager of the ministry's animal
care, resources and regulations branch, said pork
breeders "don't want to be lumped with cattle. They
see it as a completely different industry."
A major concern is the current requirement for A
and B licences. An A licence means that a semen
producer must be a corporation without share
capital. A B licence means that a producer must be
affiliated with an A licence holder.
Woodcock said a lot of producers don't want to be a
corporation without share capital, and they don't
want to undergo the extra expense of being
affiliated with one.
Provincial regulation was seen as a duplication of
effort, since federal legislation takes care of
animal health issues and Canadian semen already
meets or exceeds export requirements. One producer
pointed out that regulation always costs more than
is first estimated and the possibility of future
budget cuts could leave the program with no
funding. A breeding stock company representative
viewed government regulations as expensive,
political and probably ineffective.
In order to maintain minimum quality standards,
some of the group considered a third-party
association with voluntary membership to be the
best way to improve the AI industry. Rather than
protecting pork producers buying AI services, the
association would market the product. Membership
would indicate compliance with standards set by the
association, though the group acknowledged that
setting those standards with all the variables
inherent in the industry would be difficult.
Another group thinks the province should have some
control and, as a third party, adds integrity to
the system.
Despite differing opinions, Woodcock thinks the
industry can reach a compromise.
With files from Don Stoneman.

   

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