Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Wild pigs, nutrition, resilience and more

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By Andrew Heck

Western Canada’s wild pigs run amok

Many conference attendees were unfamiliar with the wild pig problem. As a result, Ryan Brook received a lot of extra attention following his presentation.

Potential for disease transmission, environmental destruction, physical threats to livestock and other headaches that come with invasive species are what landowners can expect as Canada’s wild pig presence continues to grow relatively unchecked. Because they are intelligent, hardy creatures, eradication has proven elusive.

Ryan Brook delivered the final plenary session presentation at the 2020 Banff Pork Seminar. His team at the University of Saskatchewan has been studying wild pigs for nearly a decade, and population trends suggest that there will be no shortage of further work to do in this area.

“More than 700 delegates who came here to talk about managing pigs inside the fence,” said Brook. “I’m the only one who came here to talk pigs outside the fence.”

“Wild boars” were originally brought to Canada in the 1980s. The current wild pig population is composed of individuals that have escaped captivity, either escaping through poor fencing or being deliberately released.

Efforts to control the wild pig problem in Canada, at present, are sparse, due to a perceived sense of security. We do not have African Swine Fever (ASF), as in Europe, but we do have other swine diseases that could just as easily move from farm-to-farm due to contact with these animals.

In terms of what could stem the tide, Brook suggests more leadership is needed, along with aggressive but calculated culls. There are a couple of reliable techniques available to do this, including use of what he calls a “Judas pig” to lure hunters to an entire group of pigs, also known as a “sounder.” Hunting the animals one by one has proven counter-productive, but trapping and eliminating an entire sounder seems to work. The issue is keeping pace with the growth of the problem, which is not yet happening.

“No one of these points alone will solve the wild pig problem,” says Brook. “It will take a comprehensive plan.”

As for the cost?

“Not sure,” he answered. “Bloody expensive. Hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of dollars. One thing is sure: every year you wait, it gets more expensive.”

Nutrition research focuses on grow-finish and post-wean pigs

Breakout sessions on nutrition were hosted by Mike Tokach and Annie Lerner from Kansas State University, along with Francesc Molist from Schothorst Feed Research of the Netherlands.

Tokach and Lerner delivered the presentation, “Feeding the Grow-Finish Pig and Managing Their Increasing Carcass Weights.”

Their research suggests a historical trend toward market hog weight continuing to increase by more than half a kilogram every year. Genetic improvement allows these heavier weights to be achieved economically; however, long-term increases in market weight require adjustments to production facilities, nutrition programs, transportation and processing facilities.

The maintenance requirements of pigs are proportional to their body weight. Thus, heavy-weight pigs have higher maintenance requirements and must continue to eat increasing amounts of feed to dilute their maintenance needs and provide adequate intake to maintain growth rates.

Heavy-weight pigs have increased capacity to adjust feed intake to different dietary energy densities to meet their energy requirements. Their increased gut capacity allows heavy pigs to digest and use energy from fibrous feedstuffs more efficiently through hindgut fermentation. Thus, producers may have the opportunity to lower feed cost by using fibrous feed ingredients. The potential negative effects of these ingredients on carcass dressing percentage must be considered in their economic evaluation.

Metabolic testing units used for studying pigs at Schothorst Feed Research, located in Lelystad, the Netherlands.

Molist delivered the presentation, “Feeding Programs and Nutritional Strategies for Post-Weaning Piglets in the Absence of In-Feed Antibiotics.”

In order to remove in-feed antibiotics in post-weaning diets, it is essential to have a holistic approach and understand the roles of nutrients like fibre, crude protein and fat in promoting intestinal health. The nutritional strategy should be based on formulating low-nutrient post-weaning diets to promote feed intake of the piglets while simultaneously avoiding having an excess of non-digested substrate that can be used for the bacteria to proliferate.

Use of fibre should be concentrated on accelerating the development of the gastrointestinal tract. It is also important to formulate low crude protein diets and use ingredients with high amino acid digestibility. When formulating post-weaning diets, reduce the buffer capacity of the diet to optimize stomach function.

Although, there is still a need for further research on the effect and function of fat and fatty acids in promoting intestinal health, it is advisable to use medium chain fatty acids and optimize the diet, taking into account the proportion of unsaturated to saturated fatty acids.

Sow management starts with gilts

Breakout sessions on sow management were hosted by Dan Bussieres from Groupe Ceres of Quebec, along with Bob Thompson from PIC U.S.A. of Kentucky.

Thompson delivered the presentation, “Factors Involved in Sow Mortality.”

Sow mortality is a multi-factorial problem that increased as our pork industry grew and expanded in the 20th century. A review of 3.6 million parity records between 1996 and 1998 has shown monthly mortality rates were approximately 7.6 per cent in January 1996, reaching a high of 14.5 per cent during the summer of 1998. With focus from researchers, veterinarians, producers and breeding stock companies, it improved to where systems were below 10 per cent annualized with many in the four to six per cent range in the early 21st century. Then, as the industry started to expand again, mortality increased until most systems were back to the low- to mid-teens.

Proper gilt development and acclimatization are essential to build a sound herd. How you receive replacements will drive what efforts are needed to be successful at retaining younger parities and reducing overall sow mortality. Many producers in the U.S. have internal multiplication where herd replacements are raised on-site. With increasing sow productivity and higher replacement rates, it has stressed their systems to have enough good quality select weight gilts. If there are any disease outbreaks, this creates an even larger deficiency.

Reducing sow mortality is up to everyone involved in the pork industry. In Denmark, the industry has set goals to bring about country-wide efforts in this area, for the sake of accountability. If the same does not happen in North America, customer perceptions will eventually force us to act. Why not be proactive?

Groupe Ceres offers a full range of services in all fields of activity related to hog farming: management, nutrition and production of feed.

Bussieres delivered the presentation, “Key Aspects for Capturing Reproductive and Sow Lifetime Performance.”

We often view the success of a sow farm by looking at the number of pigs weaned per sow per year performance, which indeed is important when we look at production efficiency. On the other hand, economically, this number may not be the most important.

Gilts are the foundation of the herd, and a good start with your gilts in their first cycle is key in order to optimize herd lifetime performance. Gilts with higher litter size in their first parity will have a higher retention rate. We should expect our gilts to have the best farrowing rate of the herd and have 14 to 15 total born in their first litter. Also, we should aim for a retention rate of 75 per cent or more up to third parity and achieve between 55 to 60 pigs weaned per lifetime.

Optimizing sow and lifetime productivity starts with a good gilt program. Management and nutrition are key factors when looking at producing high quality replacement stock and making sure they have a good start in their first production cycle.

Pig resilience digs into DNA

Breakout sessions on pig resilience were hosted by John Harding from the University of Saskatchewan, Jack Dekkers from Iowa State University and Ben Willing from the University of Alberta.

Harding delivered the presentation, “The Natural Disease Challenge Model for Evaluating Resilience.”

A natural disease challenge model was established at a wean-to-finish research unit in Deschambault, Quebec in November 2015 to study disease. The model has provided a unique opportunity to intensively monitor disease transmission and expression.

The model has established that disease resilience traits like mortality, morbidity and performance have a sizeable heritable component, although the disease challenge is dynamic over time and not experimentally controlled. This demonstrates that improvement of disease resilience using genetic selection is possible, if appropriate measures of disease resilience can be obtained on animals within the high-health nucleus breeding farms.

The model has provided a unique opportunity to intensively monitor disease transmission and expression, and the effect of strategic interventions in a commercial research facility that has been managed consistently and systematically with well-trained staff over a four-year period.

Moving forward, large-scale public-private collaborative research partnerships will provide vital alternatives to improve pig health and welfare on commercial farms. This natural disease challenge model will play a role in that discovery.

Dekkers delivered the presentation, “Genetics and Early Predictors of Resilience.”

Infectious disease represents one of the largest cost components to the swine industry, incurring veterinary costs, loss of pigs due to mortality, reduced performance and reduced animal welfare.

Unique and extensive data has been collected on a large number of wean-finish pigs that can be used to understand the genetic basis of disease resilience and to develop genetic tests or indicator traits to identify pigs with high genetic merit for disease resilience, without having to expose them to disease. The latter is essential for the implementation of selection for disease resilience in nucleus breeding herds.

Genetic markers and genomic prediction provide a valuable tool to predict breeding values on animals for traits for which they are not being recorded. Disease resilience is a good candidate for this. Genomic prediction, however, requires ongoing recording of the phenotype in a so-called training population.

From left to right, presenters John Harding, Jack Dekkers, Ben Willing and Bob Kemp.

Willing delivered the presentation, “Host Microbial Interactions and Disease Resilience in Pigs.”

Gut microbiota has been identified as one of the important factors influencing disease resistance. Through a Genome Canada and Genome Alberta funded project, Willing has endeavoured to identify microbial populations associated with disease resistance and to characterize how disruptions associate with altered immune development in pigs.

The gastrointestinal tract of newborn mammals is rapidly colonized by environmental and maternal microbes with tremendous biomass and diversity. The relationship, balance and mechanistic interactions between these microbes in the gut is extremely complex and not well understood in states of health or disease.

Antibiotics may cause transient or persistent alterations in gut-associated microbiota and are suggested to be a major contributor to increased prevalence of immune mediated disorders. Since the gut microbiota – which consists of a dynamic community of bacteria, viruses, fungi and archaea – is known to impact the development, maturation and function of the immune system, it is a natural extension that the microbiota will impact vaccine efficacy.

In humans, increased sanitation, reduced exposure to microbes in early life and frequent use of antimicrobials have been associated with an increased susceptibility to certain disease conditions. This can also be the case with swine production where different production methodologies and technologies are employed.

Smart technology’s integration challenges

Breakout sessions on smart technology were hosted by Dale Polson from Boehringer-Ingelheim Animal Health of Georgia, Chris Bomgaars from EveryPig Inc. of Florida and Benny Mote from the University of Nebraska.

Polson delivered the presentation, “Precision Livestock Ecosystems: Integrating Technology, Process and Culture.”

Each precision livestock farming technology generally has value potential for any given farm site and thus can be evaluated to a degree in a similar manner as other products and services have always been and continue to be today. However, the greatest value of individual precision livestock technologies is not realized in isolation.

There are three primary elements to a strategic framework for all ecosystems that integrate and connect cyber-physical systems within any business environment: technology, process and culture. For all businesses and commercial operations that operate within each business environment, people are the drivers, technologies are the vehicles and processes are the roadways.

The potential of precision livestock farming technologies is clear. To continue to chase that potential and beyond, many existing as well as new start-up companies will enter the marketplace to supply these technologies to livestock producers. The challenge for these companies will be offering a clear value proposition for producers, related to effective integration and cost-consciousness.

An example of the EveryPig interface, as shown on a tablet screen.

Bomgaars delivered the presentation, “Reducing the Threat of African Swine Fever (and Other Severe Diseases) Through Telemedicine.”

Infectious disease outbreaks originating overseas have often been treated as someone else’s problem, unlikely to affect pork production in North America. As we have seen in recent years, the wait-and-see approach to the spread of disease among livestock may be an increasingly risky one.

The last 30 years have seen a shift to larger but fewer production operations. With this shift, efficiencies as well as the quality of the product have improved. Data collection and storage, however, still lag other industries.

The early detection of ASF is uncommon using the current methods available on-farm. As such, differential diagnoses are troublingly common. Barring the widespread adoption of portable laboratories, we can assume that early detection will continue to fall on the shoulders of on-site caregivers should the disease arrive in North America.

With the threat of ASF looming over the pork industry, it is more important than ever that producers adopt a structured data approach. The ability to spot the symptoms of ASF and other infectious diseases quickly may be the difference between containment and bankruptcy. Services like EveryPig provide structured barn-level data collection made exclusively for the pork production industry.

Mote delivered the presentation, “Individual Pig Activity Tracking in Group Housed Swine Offers a Deeper Understanding of Swine Production.”

Advanced detection and intervention of compromised pigs significantly increases the probability for recovery in addition to the potential for reducing disease transmission spread or subsequent injuries. To date, identifying sick or injured pigs is achieved through visual evaluation by caretakers and has practical limits as to the amount of time they can allot to monitoring each individual pig.

Application of precision technology has been slower to develop in the livestock sector than the crop sector due to the complexity of tracking individual animals. However, advances in technology has progressed to the point that the industry is on the cusp of a technology revolution.

As a means to address this need, Mote’s team developed and evaluated a deep feature-based detection and tracking platform, known as NUtrack Livestock Monitoring System, with the capabilities to automatically identify, maintain individual identification and continuously track the activities and location of group housed pigs. The system is built around consumer-level security camera hardware and desktop computers with graphics processing units.

During a 42-day trial, the overall accuracy of the system was shown to be greater than 99 per cent when pigs were not lying down. The unrivaled ability and accuracy of the NUtrack system contributes enormous promise in the advancement of precision livestock farming for swine.

Let’s Deal with some Positives

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Pork Commentary, March 23rd, 2020
Jim Long, President-CEO, Genesus Inc.

  • Last week U.S. 53-54% lean hogs increased from 58.47 to 61.78 – $6.00 plus a head.
  • Last week USDA pork cut-outs went from 69₵ to 80₵ lb. – $22.00 plus a head
  • Latest U.S. weekly Pork Exports were 43,000 tonnes, down 4% from previous week’s record number (China 15,580 MT). 
  • U.S. Pork Exports continue to run almost double a year ago.

Summary

  • Cash Hogs up
  • U.S.D.A. pork cut-outs up
  • U.S. Pork Exports circling record levels
  • Pork Demand holding in face of Coronavirus challenge

Coronavirus (COVID-19) effect on Hog Markets

We picked some of the countries hit by Coronavirus and used the date of late January as the beginning of outbreaks.

South KoreaJanuary 22, 20202,393.00 Krw/kg.
March 18, 20203,867.00 Krw/kg.
ChinaJanuary 22, 202036.615 Rmb/kg.
March 4, 202036.66 Rmb/kg
SpainJanuary 23, 2020 1.42 Euro/kg.
March 19, 20201.51 Euro/kg.
ItalyJanuary 23, 20201.65 Euro/kg
March 19, 20201.50 Euro/kg.

Many of these countries already had high prices. Main point, it appears that demand has held as have already high prices.

Domestic demand for Pork has jumped

  • Retail stores have been in many instances stripped of meat due to a combination of restaurant closures, hoarding, and more home meals.
  • Saturday U.S. kill was 313,000 head, up from 184,000 a week ago, reflecting huge packer margin and demand for pork. 
  • Certainly, no sign Pork demand is slowing due to Coronavirus

Lean Hog Futures continue their gyrations

  • Getting more and more disconnected from the fundamentals of the market. 
  • More and more we see Lean Hog Futures as a pox on our house. 
  • Every other swine market in the world functions without one.
  • Most if not all hog markets don’t have to deal with instability that it creates. 
  • Most if not all other global hog markets are more profitable for producers than the one with a lean hog future.

Jan-Feb 2019 China Publicly Traded Companies hog sales versus Jan-Feb 2020

China has several publicly traded companies that report their hog sales. Below is a comparison between Jan-Feb 2019 and Jan-Feb 2020.

CompanySales Jan-Feb 2020 % change from 2019
Wens    1.4 million head– 65%
Muyuan  1.395 million head– 31%
Zhengbang   .642 million head– 43%
New Hope  .553 million head+18%
Tiabang  .288 million head– 44% 
DBN  .151 million head– 54%
Aonong  .115 million head+12%
Tiakang  .088 million head– 35%
Tangren Shen  .066 million head– 64%
  • Certainly, fewer hogs marketed in general this Jan-Feb. We expect due to ASF and Coronavirus logistic issues. 
  • Last year on the first of February China’s price for market hogs was 12.23 rmb/kg.
    (82.61₵ U.S. Liveweight a lb.).
  • This year Feb. first, China’s price for market hogs was 36.43 rmb/kg
    ($2.38 U.S. liveweight a lb.)
  • China is certainly short of pork.

Summary

It appears unlike many commodities and products, the Coronavirus issue has not depressed hog prices if anything they have gotten stronger.

Toilet paper demand, Lysol demand, and Pork demand are some of the few things that can say demand is better in the Coronavirus crisis.

Genesus Customer Testimonials

Mayfield AB, Canada

“Genesus works well for our bam. We need animals that are hardy, strong survivors. The sows produce lots of good quality pigs that are uniform.

The pigs grow well throughout the bam. We get lots more pigs to market than when we were with one of the competitors’ lines. The boars are good workers, produce fast growing pigs with good grades.”

Dabaco Group, Vietnam

“Duroc Genesus has great structure and impressive well-tolerance to Vietnam’s hot and humid weather conditions. The growth rate is impressive with an average of 1,000 gr/day (30kg to 110kg) with a
low FCR. Great meat quality – dark red color and tender with high marbling score..”

Disease preparedness comes into focus

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By Andrew Heck

Disease-related emergencies are familiar to many in attendance at the Banff Pork Seminar. At least three separate presentations were focused on the threat posed by foreign animal diseases, and just last year, on the first day of the seminar, Alberta announced it had recorded its first-ever case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED).

Seminar presentation topics under the banner of disease preparedness were delivered by Amy Cronin of Swine Health Ontario, Egan Brockhoff of Prairie Swine Health Services and Alex DeJong of BMO.

In addition to presentations during the seminar, producers from across the country, and some guests from abroad, were invited to take part in a pre-seminar Serious Animal Disease Emergencies workshop through the Animal Health Emergency Management (AHEM) Project. The session was hosted by Alberta Pork and the Canadian Pork Council (CPC).

AHEM workshop prepares producers

Todd Bergen-Henengouwen is the resource development lead for the AHEM project. He also operates a mixed crop farm in southern Alberta.

“We were pleased with the turnout, given that not all guests had arrived in Banff that early, and given that not everyone in attendance at the seminar is a producer,” said Matt Taylor, Project Manager, AHEM. “We felt the seminar was a good opportunity to efficiently attract participants at a time when they were already travelling and prepared to expand their knowledge.”

The goal of the session was to introduce producers to disease prevention strategies that they could take back to their own operations. Producers were also versed in disease response management, to prepare for the unfortunate case that disease should enter their own herds. The event featured an introduction to a new producer handbook, an emergency scenario simulation and networking opportunities.

“For us, the development of this handbook was an important step for our producers,” said Javier Bahamon, Quality Assurance and Production Manager, Alberta Pork. “Resources are great, but they require instruction. Through the AHEM project, producers are able to receive a helpful resource for reference, along with the appropriate training to integrate these strategies into their existing emergency plans.”

The handbook is divided into five sections, which include information on understanding risks to the industry, preparing for disease, responding in the event of an outbreak, and sections for definitions and additional exercises for producers to complete.

So far, handbooks have been customized for pork producers in Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Similarly, handbooks have been customized for beef, dairy, goat and sheep producers across the country.

In 2018, the initial AHEM project team released 13 plans and associated handbooks. In 2019, during the project’s second phase, the development of another 15 plans and handbooks began. The plans provide step-by-step guidance on roles and responsibilities for staff at provincial and national associations, and the handbooks offer clear and concise information for producers.

To promote these resources, the AHEM project kicked off a series of scheduled pork-specific workshops, including a November 2019 session in Red Deer, Alberta and the January 2020 session in Banff, followed by a March 2020 session in Red Deer. Further workshops for pork and other sectors are being planned across Canada.

African Swine Fever is top priority for the Canadian Pork Council

African Swine Fever (ASF) preparedness is a primary concern for the Canadian Pork Council (CPC). Céline Bourbonnais, Communications Manager, CPC provided an update on the organization’s national communications plan in the event of an outbreak, during a CPC board meeting in Banff.

Egan Brockhoff is a veterinarian and partner in Prairie Swine Health Services of Red Deer, Alberta, in addition to serving as a veterinary counselor to the Canadian Pork Council (CPC). Brockhoff’s work takes him to farms across western Canada and even to Asia, where he has witnessed first-hand the devastation caused by African Swine Fever (ASF). He delivered a presentation as part of a breakout session at the 2020 Banff Pork Seminar.

For its part, the CPC is preparing to combat ASF by hosting bi-monthly meetings with Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) officials to raise awareness and understand what the agency is doing. CPC is also meeting with the Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC) to explore ways to address the potential risk of imported feed and feed ingredients being contaminated with ASF.

Collaboration is key. CPC regularly communicates with the U.S. National Pork Producers Council and partners in Mexico to share information and work on a unified North American response plan. Through the Canada West Swine Health Intelligence Network (CWSHIN) and other regional partners, information is being shared with veterinarians and producers across the country.

Inching closer to an ASF vaccine

At the same time the Banff Pork Seminar was taking place, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) announced that the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) will embark on new ASF research to further support Canada’s preparedness strategy. This complements ongoing collaborations between the CFIA and VIDO-InterVac aimed at developing and testing vaccines and antivirals for ASF.

“CFIA’s support increases Canada’s international contribution to combat the spread of ASF,” said Volker Gerdts, Director, VIDO-InterVac. “This is a prime example of how this CL3-Ag infrastructure supports national priorities against emerging infectious disease and the development of solutions that mitigate their impact.”

Gerdts was a presenter during one of the seminar’s breakout sessions, during which he provided an overview of VIDO-InterVac’s work and explored the different kinds of viruses and corresponding vaccines from an epidemiological point-of-view.

Several experimental vaccines for ASF have been based on gene-deletion mutants. However, the concern with these vaccines is that, at high doses, they can cause disease by themselves. Because these vaccines use live viruses, vaccinated animals will shed the virus into the environment, which could infect other animals in a pig herd or potentially spread outside a farm and infect wild pigs, which carries a much greater risk for transmission.

In contrast, inactivated vaccines are very safe, as all pathogens have been completely inactivated. However, an inactivated vaccine virus is no longer able to enter the cell, thus appearing to the immune system as an extracellular pathogen, which leads to a suboptimal immune response. In the case of either gene-deletion vaccines or inactivated vaccines, there is no clear answer to the ASF problem.

When vaccines are not available for disease response, the economic impact of that disease is compounded, as we have seen with ASF and PED. Vaccines play a critical role in protecting our industry, but at the same time, practical considerations need to be made for the changing expectations of producers and herd veterinarians. It is essential that novel platform technologies are created to allow for rapid, cost-effective vaccine development, while preserving global trade partnerships and keeping our industry competitive.

Ontario Swine Incident Command Centre stands ready

Amy Cronin explains the biosecurity protocols on her own farm.

Amy Cronin is a Guelph-area hog farmer, mother of six, school board trustee and former board director with Ontario Pork who is part of Swine Health Ontario’s (SHO) Ontario Swine Incident Command Centre. For the past four years, she has also served on the Banff Pork Seminar Advisory Committee.

SHO is a leadership team comprised of representatives from Ontario Pork, the Ontario Pork Industry Council (OPIC), along with ex-officio representation from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (OMAFRA).

SHO was formed to facilitate a collaborative approach to improving and better coordinating the pork industry’s efforts to prevent, prepare for and respond to serious swine health threats in Ontario. SHO subsequently identified the development of an Ontario Swine Incident Command Centre (OSICC) structure for industry disease response, following the principles of Incident Management Systems (IMS), as a key strategic goal.

Protecting your bottom line in a disease outbreak

Alex DeJong is a Senior Director of Agriculture and Agri-Business at BMO, based in Ontario. He presented on financial planning in the face of foreign animal disease.

Alex handles large and strategic agricultural client relationships across the province, including large cash crop, protein and horticulture producers, as well as grain elevators and input suppliers. He and his team work closely with clients to provide advice, direction and flexible credit structures to meet their specific needs and business goals.

Financial considerations in a disease outbreak are specific to individuals, but in general, the main issue is are likely to be related to cash flow and marketability of hogs. One-month, three-month and six-month plans are recommended to help producers manage in the event that borders close to exports or there are other disruptions to pig movements.

Partnering with your lender is crucial to arriving at a plan that works. It is important to know how you and your lender can work together to support your business during a potential disease outbreak. Financing solutions and other strategies differ between institutions, which is why producers should not hesitate to make appropriate arrangements to protect themselves.

Swine Industry Random Observations

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Pork Commentary, March 16th, 2020
Jim Long, President-CEO, Genesus Inc.

We have to scour for anything to write up about other than the Coronavirus. Not much we know, unlike TV news anchors who have become virus experts in the last few days. So this week we are going to make some random observations- maybe relevant or maybe not.

• The U.S.D.A 53-54% average lean hog price increased from 56.44 to 58.47 in a week.
– A year ago 53-54% was 53.97
– Almost $10 a head higher than a year ago
• On Friday U.S.D.A pork cut-outs reached 70.04₵ a lb.
– First time in several weeks over 70₵ a lb.
– Increased price means better demand.
• U.S. Pork Exports set another weekly high at 44,500 metric tonnes, led by China at 16,120 metric tonnes
• European Hog Prices remain high.
– Spain at 1.54 Euro/Kg., is at record levels (78₵ a lb.)
– China’s average price is 36.66 rmb/Kg. ($2.38 lb.)

Our Farmer logic

U.S. lean hog prices rising, U.S.D.A. cut-outs increasing, U.S. pork exports at record level and European Pork is more expensive, while hog prices in China are at levels beyond normal comprehension.
Sounds like a recipe to bake a happy cake?

Not so Fast…

We have lean hog futures.
• They have collapsed despite many positive market directions.
• Lean Hog Futures based in Chicago – (Las Vegas with no rules) seems to create instant negativity in our industry.
• No other hog producing country in the world has lean hog futures except the U.S.A.
• 92% of the world hog industry seems to have managed to operate without lean hog futures.
• From what we can see every other country has higher hog prices than the U.S.A (Canada)
Quite the system, Canada is the wagging dogs’ tail of the U.S. futures and pricing system.

Last time we wrote about our observations of the effect Lean hog futures we got more response comments than any time over the past twenty years of writing. All supportive of the observations except one.

We know that nothing will change- lean hog futures will continue as long as money flows into them and there is a whole industry of brokers and agents collecting commissions on the activity with an obvious vested interest to perpetuate the current system.

To Summarise:
• U.S. Hog price rising
• U.S. Pork Cut-ours rising
• U.S. Pork Exports – record level- including China
• European Hog prices – near or at record levels

Genesus Customer Testimonials

Rosedale Colony, AB, Canada

“What can we say … we are using the best genetics alongside with great service from Genesus.

Together, this helps us achieve the results we get. We have exceeded our expectations.”

El Tigre Farms, MB, Canada

“Our farrow to wean operation has been using Genesus sire line since 2016. The customer service Genesus offers is second to none and they are willing to go that extra mile to ensure that our needs are met.”

For more Genesus client testimonials click here

Do we manage the Pigs or the Farm?

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Simon Grey, General Manager Russia CIS and Europe, Geneus Inc
simongrey@genesus.com

This may seem a really stupid question. Of course in live pig production we are managing pigs! But are we?

We are in business to make a profit and to make this profit as big as we can. Profit requires income, which means sales. Pig production is a really simple business. We sell only one thing which is kilograms.

To maximise income, we need to maximise kg sold and or value of kg sold; ideally both. So, what are the limiting factors for sales of kilograms?. This is where we normally start thinking pigs weaned/sow/year, mortality, growth rate, etc. as the really important factors. Yes, they are all factors, but not the first limiting factors.

Just like every business in the world, the first limiting factor is time. 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week and 365 days in a year! There is nothing we can do to change this!

Just like many other business’s we have space as a limiting factor. This is the space we have to grow pigs in our Nursery and Finisher pens. How like other industries? Aviation, space (number of seats and planes) and time, restaurants, space (number of seats) and time. Retail, space (m2 of shelf and floor space) and time. 

So, we are managing space and time. The measurement of this space and time is kg sold /m2 of space in nursery and finisher/year. The pigs are what passes through our farms in time. My estimation is that today’s maximum kilograms sold / m2 is in the 580 kg to 590 kg per year. We have a Russian customer currently producing 545 kg per year. Understanding this is basic to understanding how we manage our farms and what our priorities are. Very simply:

  • Filling all the available space in nursery and finisher with growing pigs. 
  • Fastest growth / m2.
  • Minimise the time that the space is empty for sales and washing.

Once this is understood, we now know the function of the sow herd. Again, this is simple:

  • Produce enough weaned piglets so finisher is 100% full when room is sold.
  • Produce weaned piglets with the highest potential for growth (Genetics and health). 

This is a simple mathematical calculation. Once you know the target to wean, take weaned per so farrowed and this will give you total number of sows to farrow (this may vary with seasons so may be a moving target). Using farrowing rate you can calculate how many to breed. This will also be seasonal and need to be varied. 

Lowest Cost Or Highest Profit?

Another stupid question? Of-course lowest cost will mean highest profit, we all know that. Once again, does it?

Here again, we need to first look at other industries and even to a degree our own. Is the car that is the cheapest to produce the most profitable to sell? Do the restaurants with the lowest costs make the most profit. Do the lowest cost cuts of pork make the most profit /m2 of supermarket shelf?

Of-course when it comes to non-production costs like bank interest, depreciation, waste disposal, administration, and management then these should always be minimised. Non-production costs are ones that have zero effect on kg sold.

Direct production costs we need to look at cost vs return. What is the cost of this product or cost to do a task, vs the number of kilograms it will produce! If the cost is more than the value of the kilograms produced then do not do or buy!

A big example is feed. Many people obsess over FCR as the “be all and end all” number that matters. FCR as a stand-alone number for comparison of farms really means very little! It is affected by many things, raw materials, chosen energy level, genetics, slaughter weight, feeder design, wet or dry feeding, pellet or mash feeding, health, vaccinations to name but a few!

The really important number when it comes to feed is “Margin Over Feed”. This is directly linked to profit as in reality it is only feed that is a variable cost (what do you save if you reduce slaughter weight by one kilogram).

With feed you really do need to decide lowest cost or maximum profit, according to Genesus latest research at Rock Lake. Feeding lower energy (cheaper) finisher diets will give you the lowest cost of gain.

However, feeding higher energy (more expensive) diets gives you highest margin over feed

This is because of the effect of higher energy diets on growth rate and lower FCR.

More kilograms = higher income!

Think maximum profit – maximise kg/m2 and look at the effect of ‘cheapest’ diets.

Genesus Research and Development 

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The Genesus research and development program is focused on continual improvement of our products and services. Our use of innovative technologies and time-tested methods ensures that our products and services provide our customers a competitive edge.

Genesus invites you behind the scenes to find out more about our programs and to show that we mean it when we ask you…

Are you ready to have the best pig in the world ?

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Communicating with the cross-cultural advantage

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By Marvin Salomons

Tina Varughese uses her own background and a humorous approach to tackling issues related to cross-cultural communication. She is a long-time colleague of Marvin Salomons.

Changes continue to take place in the Canadian pork industry. Each year brings new threats in disease and market challenges. Even so, the industry continues to be spurred on towards opportunities fueled by primary and processing innovations that enable pork to be sought as a food of choice.

Another face of industry continues to change as well. As we delve into the barn, we see a changing culture in the people managing and caring for pigs. Not only a changing mindset but also a change in the very culture of the people themselves. Today’s Canadian pork operation is a vibrant mix of new cultures from all corners of the world. This same trend can be seen in the industries that support these farms. People with different experiences, languages and beliefs working side-by-side to produce Canadian pork for the world. The people and languages inside a barn bring a whole new dimension to working effectively in a team environment.

Visit a Canadian pork farm today and you will not be surprised to be greeted by a worker from a country other than Canada. All came by choice and desire to work in our industry. These new people bring new characteristics and are being readily embraced by the industry as a major part of a new workforce strategy and need that keeps Canada’s pork industry in the game.

Having an effective team means understanding those team members, including their cultural backgrounds. That is the message Tina Varughese brought to the 2020 Banff Pork Seminar, delivering keynotes in a breakout session called, “50 shades of beige: communicating with the cross-cultural advantage.” Rated as one of Canada’s top speakers, Varughese knows the drill. Being an Indo-Canadian daughter of first-generation East Indian parents, she draws on personal experiences in delivering her humorous, high-energy talk on diversity and inclusion in the intercultural workplace. Fifteen years of working in Alberta’s Immigration Office, in addition to operating her own settlement and relocation business in Calgary, give her a true understanding of many different cultures.

Why talk about cross-cultural communication?

Tina Varughese says top successful organizations understand that being able to communicate cross-culturally in the workplace results in better productivity, performance and employee engagement. This is no different on the farms and businesses in Canada’s pork sector. She says managing diversity drives profitability, leads to innovation and promotes an inspiring workplace culture. Within Canada’s population, Varughese points out 20 per cent are foreign-born, with the top source immigrant countries to Canada being India, China, Pakistan and the Philippines. For the Canadian pork industry, currently, the top source countries of foreign workers are Mexico, the Philippines, the Netherlands, U.K., Ireland and Ukraine. From the industry’s perspective, there is a desire to turn these “temporary, foreign” workers into permanent Canadian residents or citizens.

Where workers originate

No specific data breaks down country of origin for workers in the Canadian pork sector, but anecdotal sources indicate the top targeted source countries are those shown here.

A view of work permits issued over the past few years by Canadian authorities show many countries provide the wide array of new cultures coming to Canada. Unfortunately, Immigration, Refugees & Citizenship Canada (IRCC) does not break down the permit numbers by sector, but historically, the most significant portion of foreign worker permits are issued to the agriculture and food processing sectors. Of those, the majority are coming under the Seasonal Agricultural Worker Program (SAWP) from targeted Caribbean countries and Mexico for seasonal businesses like beekeeping, fruits, vegetables, tree nurseries and other harvesting operations. While IRCC data covers all Canadian business sectors, the countries of origin represented in the pork sector do represent a significant portion of the foreign worker permits issued in agriculture each year.

Individualists versus collectivists

From one country to another, our appearances may differ, but so do our values and approaches to interpersonal interactions. Varughese’s message builds on this using the work of renowned Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede, well-known for his pioneering research on cross-cultural groups and organizations. The concept centres around findings that show, depending on the society in which a person is raised, he or she will either lean towards individualism or collectivism. 

Varughese says individualist values reflect individual tastes, goals, achievements and accomplishments, whereas collectivist values reflect shared ideas among families, work divisions and communities. Every decision, conversation and contribution we see in the workplace is reflected by these constructs. According to Hofstede, it has to do with whether a person’s self-image is defined in terms of “I” or “we.” In individualist societies, people tend to look after themselves and their direct family only. In collectivist societies, people belong to “in-groups” that take care of them in exchange for loyalty.

Considering the cultural compass of pork farm workers

Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede developed a compass that identifies levels of individualism or collectivism for every country in the world.

If managed well, diverse teams work. Knowing the team’s individual make-up and values is key.  Hofstede developed his “culture compass” around six values – one of which is the degree of individualism inherent to a society and how this is reflected by those who belong to that culture. 

Hofstede’s compass scores each country on various traits. The top collectivist countries in the world are Guatemala, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Columbia and Indonesia, while the top individualist countries are the U.S., Australia, U.K., the Netherlands, Hungary and Canada. 

In looking at several of the main countries used to source foreign workers for the pork industry, we can see huge differences in country scores based on Hofstede’s compass. Comparing several selected countries like Mexico, Ukraine and Ireland with Canada demonstrates why it is important for employers to consider this information when dealing with foreign employees.

Mexico, with a score of 30, is considered a collectivist society. For Mexican workers, loyalty is paramount and overrides most other societal expectations. Mexican society favours strong relationships where everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group. In collectivist societies, an offence made to someone often leads to shame and loss of face. In addition, employer-employee relationships are perceived in moral terms, much like a family link. While Canadians may not instinctively think along these lines, employers hiring and promoting workers from collectivist cultures should take into account how these decisions could affect an employee’s in-group.

Ukrainians are also found to be very collectivist. If Ukrainians plan to go out with their friends, they might say, “We with friends,” instead of, “My friends and I.”  Family, friends and even entire neighborhoods are foundational to Ukrainians’ approach to everyday life. Relationships are crucial for obtaining information, social networking or for successful negotiations. They need to be personal, authentic and trustful before one can focus on tasks and build on a communication style.

Canada and the U.S. score 80 and 91, respectively, on the dimension of individualism. These figures are the highest for this given dimension, characterizing us as having as very individualist cultures. In the business and working world, this translates into an employee expectation of self-reliance and initiative. Within the exchange-based world of work, hiring and promotion decisions are based on merit or evidence of what one has done or can do. As a result, a Canadian individualist working alongside a strong collectivist will approach communication and the job quite differently. 

Communicating using different styles

Effectively communication with employees means understanding what works for them.

In her presentation, Varughese pointed out there are several communication styles that are factors in how people talk and deal with each other. She elaborated on the following categories:

Reflexive: Reflexive communicators will often repeat parts of the conversation using the same tone and intonation in the conversation. Reflexive speakers feel repeating the conversation shows respect and understanding.

Interruptive: Interruptive communicators often interrupt the conversation without knowing it. Given their family and community-oriented culture, collectivists are often by nature interruptive.

Direct: Direct communicators use fewer words and less non-verbal communication. This practice may be perceived as rude, abrasive or arrogant, but in reality, it may be indicative of culture. Like many North Americans, Ukrainians are very direct communicators and may not need as much positive reinforcement as others.

Indirect: Indirect communicators are often collectivists who view group or team harmony as being more important than disagreeing with someone. Mexicans who fall within this group are less direct in communication. Filipinos are strong collectivists, very hierarchal and indirect communicators. For them, saving face is important, so careful, non-embarrassing feedback is key.

The methods by which employers communicate with employees can have a significant impact on job performance. Varughese says there is a close link between performance feedback and indirect versus direct communicators. In North American cultures, she says the “sandwich approach” is used to offer performance feedback. The process involves delivering positive news first, followed by constructive criticism and ending with positive feedback. However, not all cultures resonate with this technique, but employees from all cultures still need meaningful feedback. Offering specific positive feedback will reinforce desirable behaviour. An employer could try saying something like, “You did a great job processing that last batch of pigs. It was done right, fast and met our SOPs.” 

Varughese says direct communicators do not always give positive feedback, as it is not part of their culture, and doing good work is viewed as an expectation. She says this can be deflating for some and lead to employee disengagement on the job. She notes indirect communicators still need positive feedback, but if they are collectivists, the praise would be better offered in-person rather than in a group setting like the staff room at coffee break. In this case, indirect communicators will not respond well if the entire team is present. The feedback is better delivered behind closed doors so that the indirect communicator, who may also be a collectivist, recognizes that their job is not threatened. Hierarchy is important in some cultures and can play a role in the process.

Communicating using different platforms

In today’s workplace, communication is typically done in one of three ways: face-to-face, by phone or by email. In the pig barn, communication within and between teams or management can be difficult especially where technology is not readily accessible or where differences in culture, language or understanding of expectations are unclear. In collectivist cultures, like Mexico and the Philippines, chit-chat is about relationship-building and may include discussion about family, community, school, politics and sports. On the other end of the spectrum, in Canada, chit-chat can be superficial and addresses the current weather or asking how someone is feeling, often without much emphasis on finding out the true answer.

Language skills are important in relaying your message, especially when it comes to doing important tasks on the farm, such as breeding sows, recording data and identifying health concerns. Varughese says, if English is a second language, a phone call should be followed up with an email, to ensure the message is understood and that nothing has been lost in translation. Another technique is the use of photos as a communication aid, if the matter is visual in nature, such as animal health symptoms. Using this technique can also spare workers from embarrassment or misunderstanding if accented speech is an issue. 

Varughese also notes where mixed cultures and languages exist in a working team, speaking only English or French on the job should be encouraged. This alleviates issues where people feel they are being excluded from the conversation or being talked about. In some cultures, this can be viewed as rude. Leave the talking in mother tongues for coffee and lunch breaks.

Exercise caution with non-verbal communication

According to Varughese, non-verbal communication such as gestures, posture, eye contact, smell, silence and personal space can be interpreted differently in each culture. Gestures such as physical greetings – like handshakes, hugs and kisses – vary from culture to culture, and simple signs such as giving the “thumbs-up” or the “all-OK” sign can mean different things and might be considered offensive in some cases.

In North American culture, direct eye contact is expected and respected, while in some cultures, it can be viewed as disrespectful. Vocal tone and volume can also be perceived differently. Some cultures expect leaders to have loud voices; on the other hand, in Japanese culture, a loud voice signals someone is out of control. In North America, silence is often viewed as a lack of interest, whereas in some cultures, it is seen as someone who is reflecting on what is being said.

Opening your mind will help your operation

An impromptu Bollywood-style dance routine caught attendees off-guard but served to illustrate a point.

Navigating the ins and outs of cross-cultural communication may be daunting, but it could also be an important consideration for your business. Rather than arriving at wrong conclusions about your workers, try to understand their backgrounds and how this affects communication.

To wrap up her presentation, Varughese asked attendees to rise from their seats and participate in a fun dance routine based on the Bollywood-style of Indian movies. The exercise was done to demonstrate a principle: when in doubt, mirror the image, the gesture or even the tone when dealing and communicating with employees whose cultural backgrounds are different from yours. Failing to do so could result in lost production or profit.

Spain – Riding High

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Pork Commentary, March 9th, 2020
Jim Long, President-CEO, Genesus Inc.

Spain last week reached a record high in hog prices at 1.54 euro a kilogram liveweight (79₵ U.S. lb. liveweight).  Its ability to push exports to China is really paying off. 

  • Spain’s pork production in 2019 was 4,627,179 tonnes up 2.13% from 2018. 
  • In 2019, Spain was the leading E.U. exporter of pork and pork products, with a total of 1,183,750+ (869,540+ in 2018), and doubled its exports to China (668,780+ vs 315,140+)

In 2019, the whole of the European Union exported 4,735,210 tonnes of pork and pork products. An increase of 20% (800,000-tonne increase). Of this China took 2,419,490 tonnes,  almost double 2018. When we look at China-E.U. imports, it’s about 46,000 tonnes a week in 2019.

The January 2020 U.S. exports to China-Hong Kong, indicates 97,002 metric tonnes. A year ago 26,744 (+361%). Obviously, U.S. exports going in the right direction. Our farmer arithmetic tells us that China-Hong Kong exports in January equal about 1 million market hogs.

January’s total U.S. exports were 273,603 metric tonnes, up from last year’s 201,835 metric tonnes. The difference of 72,000 tonnes is about 700,000 market hogs. Roughly the increase in U.S. hog marketings in January from a year ago.

A year ago 53-54% market hogs were 51.20₵ lb. last week 56.44₵ lb. In our opinion, the increase in exports has supported hog prices to the level they are. We certainly don’t need more hogs to be produced and continue to hope export levels push higher.

Who the heck knows how big a sustainable deal will be Coronavirus (COVID-19). We all lived through Swine Flu. Big story, then went away.

We expect that Tyson-JBS have now got their system free of Ractopamine. This should increase exports to China as they have about 170,000 hogs per day. This in itself should increase in our opinion 10,000 tonnes a week to China. We do not believe either company would take out Ractopamine, or its consequences in production without thinking they could move 5,000 tonnes a week to China.

China’s hog price last week averaged 37 RMB/kilogram ($2.40 U.S. liveweight a lb.). Certainly a sign there is still a pork shortage and consumer demand is strong. There are logistics issues due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19), but when there is huge profit potential and  real need for food we expect that profits and need will accelerate logistics.
 

Mexico 

Last week we visited Mexico and talked to many producers.  Like much of the world, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has disrupted the supply chain. This has created a degree of uncertainty.

We were in the North-west region of Mexico which is Mexico’s heartland of Asian exports. Pork quality is a big issue due to quality demands of the export market. Producers we talked to hope the U.S. can increase levels of exports to Asia so the U.S. will have less to send to Mexico.

Everyone in North America is hoping that the Phase 1 US-China agreement of $40 billion in China Ag purchases includes massive levels of pork purchases.

Context:

Not to minimize the Coronavirus, but put into context of 1.4 billion people living in China.  

  • 260,000 people die a year in vehicle accidents in China, (5,000 a week).
  • The latest Coronavirus (COVID-19) total death toll in China – 3,097.

Let’s hope for everyone’s sake this too will pass

Jim Long (center) with Miguel Davalos Jr. (left) and Miguel Davalos (right) from Genesus Mexico
Genesus News

Genesus
Customer Testimonials

Riverview, MT, USA

“Genesus genetic program works very well for us. Sows produce large uniform litters with good birth and wean lots. Having a good appetite in lactation helps breed back. In our system having an animal with a high immunity sure helps. 

Genesus boars produce fast-growing pigs to market with low mortality. The boars are easy to work with and are willing workers. Carcass is excellent along with meat quality.”

Springwater, MT, USA

“We at Springwater Hogs, like the Genesus animals. Sows eat well, milk well, breed back good. The sows wean heavy pigs of uniform size, with low mortality. Boars perform well, are really good to work with. Weight are good and mortality from wean to 290lbs is 1.98%, which we think is very good. Pigs grow well, convert well and finish off well. The service is really good. We are happy with Genesus.”

For more Genesus client testimonials click here 

What’s in a Name?

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Pork Commentary, March 2nd, 2020
Jim Long, President-CEO, Genesus Inc.

We all can remember that the Swine Flu outbreak had nothing to do with Swine, but it certainly hurt pork demand. We have lived through Swine Flu, SARS, MERS, Y2K (all computers were going to quit on January 1st, 2000).

Thank goodness the current Coronavirus (COVID-19) problem is not called swine flu. All you have to do is look at the following data on a survey of 737 people re Corona Beer.

The Survey- conducted by 5W Public relations noted:

  • 38% of beer drinkers claimed they would not buy the Mexican beer Corona under any circumstances while the virus spreads worldwide
  • 14% of those queried said they regularly drink Corona beer but would now not do so in public.
  • The confusion continued as 16% of those surveyed said they weren’t sure whether the Coronavirus was related to beer.

Appears to be a lot of confusion and lack of knowledge in some parts of population. Next week we are going to Mexico on business. Probably will risk it and have a Corona.

Observations 

We all have seen the big drop in U.S. Stock Market and lean hog futures. So far during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) break, U.S. Exports have held.

  • A week ago 42,000 metric tonnes up 18% from the week before.
  • Since the 1st of January U.S. Pork Exports are up 91% year over year. 
    • 2019 =158,043 YTD
    • 2020 = 302,000 YTD.  An increase roughly of 20,000 tonnes a week.
    • Hog slaughter is up about 200,000 a week year to date.
    • The export increases are about equal to the increase in hog production.  
    • China up 400%,
    • Mexico up 57%,
    • Japan 108%.

It’s really, really good to see jump in exports.

Last year this time 53-54% lean hogs were 51.85₵ lb., now they are 55.21₵ lb. A year ago lean hogs went to 75₵ lb. by the first part of April. If exports continue as is and seasonal hog slaughter declines, maybe we will see the same this year.

The wildcard is Coronavirus (COVID-19) but when we look at Global Hog price, we see mostly increases in the last week. In South Korea, which has been hit by Coronavirus (COVID-19) market hogs have gone from January 21st being 89.49₵ U.S. liveweight a lb. to $1.57 a lb., on February 27. Not exactly declining.

We expect consumer behavior will slow purchasing of non- essential items but food (pork) will not see much shortfall in demand.

In the misery loves company front; Beyond Meat (Fake Meat) lost nearly 20 per cent last Friday. In valuation Peak price of shares were $240 last July. They have now fallen below $100. About $1 billion has been lost in stock value. Current stock value valuation is 221 times expected earnings. At some point someone better eat the stuff.

Focus Group – My son cooking at McDonald’s

  • 1 out of 100 are Beyond Meat Burgers. At some point you need to sell something or there is no future.

As an industry our best answer to fake meat is to work to make a better tasting product. 

  • More marbling in our pork will deliver better taste. 
  • Taste drives demand. 
  • Making a better tasting product only makes sense.

Some parts of the meat industry are starting to get it!

At Genesus we have had a concentrated plan to develop better tasting pork for over twenty (20) years.

If every American ate one more meal of pork a month it would be equivalent to 7 million hogs a year.

Genesus News
Article Source: Danish agricultural newspaper “LandbrugsAvisen
Written by Einar Bo Thomsen on January 18, 2020
Article has been translated to English from Danish
 
Interview with Jørgen Lindberg – Director, Scandinavian Farms-China

Scandinavian Farms Drops Danbred and chooses Genesus

It will be pigs from Canadian Genesus, who will play the lead, when the major reconstruction of the Danish-owned Scandinavian Farms Pig Industries starts in China.

Jørgen Lindberg, Director of Scandinavian Farms Pig Industries, Lianyungang, China.

You have had pigs from DanBred since you started in China in 2013. Why do you now switch to Genesus?

‘It is an important decision when choosing, which genes to build your herd on. Therefore, we have examined the market and the various suppliers very thoroughly. Overall, we think we get the best solution with Genesus, both when we look at the agreement and the terms, and when it comes to the pigs we get from Genesus.”

Were you not satisfied with DanBred’s pig?

“Yes – the pigs from DanBred have the best genes in the world, and it went well. We had both a nucleus herd with 1,600 DanBred sows that we owned together with DanBred, and a production herd with 14,000 sows and the production of 350,000 slaughter pigs annually. But we have learned that pig production in China is not the same as in Denmark. We cannot expect our employees out here to manage the pigs as we are used to in Denmark. That is why we are now switching to pigs that do not need near the same thorough care to produce good results”

What is it that the pigs from Genesus can?

“With the Genesus sows we get about 16.5 piglets per litters compared to DanBred’s 17-18 piglets. In contrast, the birth weight of the Genesus pigs is quite a bit higher and the pigs are stronger. In Chinese conditions, we believe that it is an advantage with fewer, but in turn stronger piglets, which easier will get all the way to slaughter. As another important factor, feed is 60 percent more expensive in China than in Denmark. Therefore, it is important that the pigs are strong from birth so that they utilize the feed better and reach the slaughter weight faster”.

Genesus is honoured that Danish-owned Scandinavian Farms has chosen our Genetics. We believe the preceding article summarizes the advantages of Genesus.

For more Genesus client testimonials click here 

The right to farm is under fire

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By Andrew Heck

What would you do without your farm? It is most likely your primary source of income and your home. Your family might have lived on that land for generations. It might even be inconceivable to you that life would ever look different.

When we think of the reasons why producers may become dispossessed, what typically comes to mind is financial ruin. In late 2018, when Canadian pork prices were at decade lows, some producers, unfortunately, made the difficult decision to shut down their operations. In other, rarer cases, the banks came knocking. Either situation is far from ideal, but these are not the only situations in which a producer could have his livelihood taken away.

In a modern world where the wants of a growing, predominately urban public trump the needs of producers, sadly, farmers often lose. Old MacDonald had a farm, until social pressures drove him under, it would seem.

North Carolina producers feel the heat

Andy Curliss, CEO, North Carolina Pork Council takes environmental stewardship seriously. He is shown here in January 2020 standing on a covered digester used to produce renewable energy at a hog farm in his state.

During a breakout session at the 2020 Banff Pork Seminar, Andy Curliss, CEO, North Carolina Pork Council, brought forth a handful of public issues facing producers in his state.

One such issue was highlighted in a 2018 article published in the North Carolina Medical Journal, which suggested an increased risk of mortality in communities associated with confined animal feeding operations. The study was widely distributed and manipulated by agenda-driven agriculture adversaries, but it was also challenged by a researcher at the University of Minnesota, who effectively demonstrated the limitations of the study.

The data, too, supports a different conclusion. As an example, in North Carolina’s two counties that account for nearly half of its pork production, neither of those counties is among the top 25 per cent of counties with the highest mortality rate across the state.

Another studied cited hog barn odour as a potential cause of asthma for school-aged children. Even the data used in the study appears to contradict this claim, as children attending school within a two-mile range of any farm had no greater instance of respiratory problems compared to children attending schools more than two miles away. As with the study on mortality, researchers in Iowa and North Carolina raised objections.

Such instances of baseless complaints lodged against farmers are not without consequence. There are many examples of how such studies are taken out of context by activists and mainstream news media to support a narrative that confirms the biases of those who oppose modern farming.

Even before the North Carolina studies on mortality and odour, other nefarious influences had contributed to a poor public image for the industry. Predictably, much of this campaign was driven by disruptive people, but it required the public support, media platform and legal recourse to become truly devastating.

Duplin County becomes a tinderbox in need of a spark

Central to the odour controversy is the practice of spraying treated lagoon manure on fields. In North Carolina, the method was banned at new livestock operations in 1997. For grandfathered operations, the practice continues to this day.

The timing of the ban was conspicuous, given that many newly built operations were appearing near a golf course where the U.S. Open was hosted in 1999. A long-standing, effective practice of manure disposal was eliminated to satisfy the desires of the professional sports and entertainment industry.

Payne Stewart during the fourth round of the 1999 U.S. Open Championship held at Pinehurst Resort and Country Club No. 2 Course in Pinehurst, N.C., Sunday, June 20, 1999. (Copyright USGA Museum/J.D. Cuban)

Households in Duplin County have a median annual income of $36,679, which is $25,258 less than the median annual income of $61,937 across the entire country, and $13,641 less than the median of $50,320 across the state. Compared to other counties, Duplin has an unusually high number of residents working in agriculture. The median property value in Duplin County was $88,800 in 2017, which is two-and-a-half times smaller than the national average of $229,700. Interestingly, the home ownership rate is 69.7 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 63.9 per cent.

Historical systemic racial division and poverty play an important role in understanding Duplin County’s social and political affairs, and these things should not be overlooked. But for the full picture to come into focus, it is necessary to examine the issues more closely to determine which factors and influential players are responsible for generating the friction. Often, the malicious intentions of bad actors can be found at the root.

The increased presence of agriculture and higher rate of home ownership suggest that this area is ripe for a potential conflict regarding land use. That conflict has been found in the less-than-glamorous side of animal agriculture. From the perspective of producers, learning to accept the unflattering reality of hog production is simply necessary in this line of work. It is how producers make their living and provide food for those who would likely be incapable of doing so themselves. For a misinformed or ill-motivated segment of the population, that often-unspoken reality becomes an easy target.

Joey Carter fights the blaze valiantly

Following an exploration of issues broadly facing North Carolina producers, Curliss told the harrowing tale of Joey Carter: a producer who, for more than three decades, met and exceeded North Carolina state regulations for hog farmers and was known to constantly upgrade his operation, based on considerations of animal welfare and the environment. In addition to hogs, he raises cattle and is active in his local cattlemen’s association. Even before and during his time as a producer, Carter served as a police officer (now retired) and volunteer fire chief for the town of Beulaville. He is, by many people’s objective standards, a model producer and citizen.

In July 2018, a North Carolina jury awarded more than $25 million in a lawsuit against Smithfield Foods – the world’s largest pig and pork producer, which owns 500 farms in the U.S. and contracts with another 2,000 independent operators in the country. In total, there are 26 federal lawsuits affecting 86 farms, filed by more than 500 plaintiffs living near those farms in eastern North Carolina.

“The lawsuits are a serious threat to a major industry, to North Carolina’s entire economy and to the jobs and livelihoods of tens of thousands of North Carolinians,” said Keira Lombardo, Smithfield senior vice president, in a statement.

At the time, Carter was a contract finisher for Smithfield. Carter’s farm was one of those targeted by the lawsuits. Rather ironically, one of the suit’s plaintiffs even lives on property that was voluntarily subdivided from the family’s plot by Carter’s father, purchased and developed five years after Joey had already built two of seven total barns that made up his total operation. To date, the same land Joey Carter’s father started farming several decades ago has been home to four generations of the Carter family.

A five-year-old boy leaves a rally and press conference in support of families affected by the lawsuits, in July 2018, held at Joey Carter’s farm. Hundreds gathered to show support for the affected farmers. © The News & Observer, Raleigh, U.S.

Complicating the matter further was the imposition of a gag order against the farmers who were being targeted by the lawsuits. Rather incredibly, only representatives of Smithfield were allowed to testify in court, and public comment on the lawsuits by defendants was effectively banned.

“It’s been kind of tough knowing the relationship and how the community was before this all started, and how it is today,” said Carter, in a September 2018 interview with the North Carolina Farm Bureau. “It’s really driving a wedge between the farmers and a lot of people in the community, which it shouldn’t.”

Partly owing to the demographics of Duplin County, the debate over the smell of hog manure and detection of fecal bacteria (generated by a white farmer) on nearby homes (of black residents) has, in some ways, amplified existing tensions and provided a platform for a wider discussion on social issues.

The phenomenon is made clear by the fact that the lawsuits against Smithfield were created by out-of-state lawyers who chose to seek mostly African-American plaintiffs living near Smithfield farms, which represents a statistical anomaly, considering the two-to-one, white-to-black ratio of residents in these areas, according to U.S. census data from 2017. Rather than seeking to better their communities by urging improvements be made to area farms, plaintiffs sought financial compensation alone.

Suffice to say, the heart of this dispute goes well beyond what any producer is prepared to tackle on his own, and while social license should be the concern of every producer, it is disheartening to think the problem is being addressed, however adequately or inadequately, through lawsuits and legislation, rather than stepping back and working for a community-based solution that benefits all.

“You’ve got to stay positive to survive and get thought it,” said Carter. “It’s going to be alright; it’s just a bump in the road. In the end, I really think somebody else is in charge—somebody higher up—and we’re going to be fine.

“The time we’re in, I think nobody’s safe—whether you’re in the hog business, chicken business, turkey business, cow business. I just don’t know what it’s coming to.”

Joey Carter (left) shakes hands with an official from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, following Hurricane Florence in 2018. Manure lagoons in this part of the U.S. can become environmentally hazardous in severe weather, if not managed appropriately.

Lawsuits have farmers and allies seeing red

In January 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments from Smithfield’s law firm against the controversial nuisance lawsuits, citing seven serious errors that resulted in an unfair and improper trial. The U.S. Court of Appeals previously heard arguments against these lawsuits in September 2018, during which time the farmer gag order was harshly criticized as being unfair.

Leading up to the January 2020 appeal, the North Carolina Pork Council joined forces with the U.S. National Pork Producers Council and other partners to file an amicus brief in support of Smithfield’s appeal.

The appeals process was undertaken with the goal of reversing the punitive damages or ordering a new trial. Rulings are typically issued three to six months after oral arguments are heard. At the time of this article’s publication, no ruling had yet been made.

What is burning in Canada?

In 2018, Ponoka County, Alberta, released its Municipal Development Plan (MDP), which included restrictions on the development of new confined feeding operations in a 20,000-acre area where more than a dozen already exist. In addition to being home to many existing confined feeding operations, the region boasts some of the highest-quality soil found anywhere on the prairies for cropland.

The restrictions were detailed in the County’s North West Area Structure Plan, affecting an area immediately adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth II Highway—the major roadway between Edmonton and Calgary. This population corridor includes some of Alberta’s fastest-growing cities and towns, driving demand for non-agricultural use.

Rather than a concern for odour or contamination, as in North Carolina, Ponoka County’s rationale within the plan states, “There is a strong demand for rural residential parcels, and the County is willing to meet this demand provided that it does not damage agriculture or the environment, or impede the logical and economic growth of urban areas.”

Development plans in Ponoka County, Alberta have re-zoned a sizeable portion of land where many intensive livestock operations are found.

Essentially, the County would like to see the land within the defined area zoned for residential properties which are not primarily agricultural. Subdividing this land for acreages would indeed contribute more greatly to the County’s tax base, but at what cost to the community and livestock producers?

In response to the plan’s adoption, the Ponoka Right to Farm Society was formed to challenge the plan in court. The Society now numbers more than 250 area residents who oppose the County’s direction.

“Ponoka County is a farming community, and the municipal government should not be setting up exclusion zones and banning new farms,” said John Hulsman, one of the Society’s board members.

The issue for many producers in the area is that the new restrictions will limit the growth of operations onto new land, which is a concern for multi-generational farm families looking to expand.

In Alberta, confined feeding operations come under the authority of the Natural Resources Conservation Board (NRCB), which has operated since 2002 under the Agricultural Operation Practices Act (AOPA). The legislation is the responsibility of the province’s Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Before 2002, licensing and compliance monitoring for confined feeding operations were the responsibility of Alberta’s municipalities, which is one reason why Ponoka County’s imposition of the North West Area Structure Plan is raising eyebrows.

In December 2019, the Ponoka Right to Farm Society launched an appeal with the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench. At the time of this article’s publication, a court date was set for February 2020.

Hot issues are often complex and diverse

Right to farm is a layered, multi-dimensional topic. Consideration must be given to the region in which challenges are faced and the context surrounding the issue.

In Canada, the matter has not reached the same public proportion as in North Carolina, and the consequences have not been as great. But it is not so far-fetched to imagine that the winds of change could blow the inferno in our direction. Is it only a matter of time?

“Anyone can raise hogs.
 But it takes a near Genius to make money doing it.”

0

Pork Commentary, February 24th, 2020
Jim Long, President-CEO, Genesus Inc.

Global Price Points (LBS. U.S. currently)

“Anyone can raise hogs. But it takes a near Genius to make money doing it.” –  The quote attributed to John Swisher, founder of United Feeds, sums up where we are in the US-Canada hog industry. 

More and more hogs continue to push the supply level beyond profitable hog prices. Over the last few weeks, we have attended five different U.S. industry events.  At them we heard the same sentiments and/or questions: “When is this going to turn’, “I am tired of not making money.” 

Most producers are aware that in just about every country in the world (actually we are not aware of any) producers are making money. Only USA-Canada are not.

Mexico76₵
Russia60₵
Brazil54₵
Spain72₵
China $2.42
Viet Nam $1.52
USA40₵
Canada40₵

You don’t need to be a computer and/or ag-economist to figure that US-Canada is sucking air relative to the rest of the world when it comes to hog price.

There is no doubt that USA-Canada have both suffered from the trade issues both countries have had with China.

Just when things appeared to get somewhat settled, the Phase 1 agreement finalized and Canada was back in China market, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) has hit and disrupted the market. It would be anyone’s guess how Coronavirus (COVID-19) will get sorted, but all indications are the Chinese government is putting a priority on ensuring food movement. That is not to say containers carrying Pork are not being slowed by issues at ports and trucking in China.

Despite these issues, U.S. Pork Exports to China continue near record levels. We would have expected U.S. pork export sales to China to have increased further, if not for Coronavirus (COVID-19).

The Phase 1 commitment of China to purchase more U.S. ag products ($40 billion total) should lead to U.S. pork exports surpassing 25,000 tonnes a week (currently 15,000), or about another 100,000 more hogs a week equivalency. By comparison- Europe shipped about 40,000 tonnes a week to China in 2019.

When we hear that logistics will limit U.S. exports to China, we don’t believe the U.S. logistic capacity can’t match European logistics.

Other Observations

U.S. Sow slaughter is up.

  • January 2019 – 265,300, 
  • January 2020 – 283,100.  (Up 18,000 – same number of slaughter days)

We don’t believe there will be many new sow barns constructed in 2020 from discussions we had over the last few weeks. 

  • Market pricing and packer capacity is braking expansion
  • Has there ever been expansion when producers are losing money?

Purchase of J.H. Routh Packing Co. in Ohio by HK Property Holdings – a joint venture between Holden Farms and Kalmbach Feeds, is another indication of large producers seeing packer margins and wanting to be part of the pork supply chain.

  • We expect the new ownership will increase daily slaughter numbers towards the plant’s capacity (about 4500 a day).
  • As time goes on, we expect further push for producers to want to integrate into packer equation.

Not sure who all reads this commentary, but from the reaction last week it appears Genetic competitors do.  The appointment of the new CEO of Topigs-Norsvin Coop got a lot of laughs in our industry. His previous experience as CEO of a division of deadstock- rendering company- Darling International was found to be funny.

Months and months of search to replace former CEO who went to a Grass Seed company, then to decide a Senior deadstock person is the background you need for the future to drive a Coop Swine Genetic company is interesting. Maybe the search committee motto was:

“It’s easier to give birth then bring the dead back to life.”

Genesus News

Genesus Customer Testimonials

D & S Brassington, United Kingdom

“We started with Genesus Duroc Semen in 2014 and we noticed the piglets were more uniform with a higher appetite and reaching slaughter weights of 85kg (deadweight) 10 days earlier.

We decided to switch 100% to Genesus (maternal and terminal). Today we are weaning more pigs per litter, averaging 10 days less to market and grading has improved.

Choosing Genesus was the best decision for us.”

Fairlane Farming Co., Canada

“Genesus Landrace x York = a true F1 that produces lots of big viable pigs that are fast-growing and become great mothers with very good feed intake in lactation and return to estrus in 5 days or less.
True Genesus F1 x Purebred Duroc = the best pork in the world.  I say this every year, I would recommend Genesus to anybody.”

30.58 PMSY

For more testimonials click here