Research at heart of Prairie Livestock Expo

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This article was published 11/12/2024 (322 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With close to 100 exhibitors at the Prairie Livestock Expo — including high-tech suppliers of genetics, feed and automated equipment — the sophisticated operations of hog, cattle and poultry producing was on full display Wednesday in Winnipeg.

Around for about 35 years in different forms, the annual one-day expo gives livestock producers the opportunity to meet representatives from the service sector and learn about new products, services and technologies.

Speakers Wednesday at the Victoria Inn Hotel and Convention Centre — including Daniel Ramage, general manager of Swine Innovation Porc, the research arm of the Canadian pork industry — outlined research projects under way.

“In agriculture, science is at the heart of the solution. It’s a driver when it comes to competitiveness, increasing productivity and increased resiliency,” Ramage said.

Since 2010, the organization has invested $71 million in 75 separate research projects. A recent $30-million swine cluster project achieved a 3.5 per cent increase in productivity, officials said.

“That shows that research helps to support competitiveness in the global markets and profitability in the industry. It also has an important impact in supporting the country’s research capacity,” Ramage said.

Research areas of focus have changed over the last 15 years. For instance, in the past as much as 80 per cent of funding went toward studying feed issues. In its latest swine cluster research project, 36 per cent of the $20 million in costs is going toward animal health, 21 per cent to environment issues and eight per cent to animal welfare.

“It reflects the diversity of priorities in the industry,” Ramage said.

Environmental sustainability and animal welfare considerations have become integral to the pork sector, which, despite its $3-billion impact on the Manitoba economy, has not always flourished.

One producer casually mentioned many went bankrupt in the early years of this century. The sector endured a legislated halt in growth with a moratorium on new hog barn construction that lasted for about 10 years (to 2017).

These days, however, conditions are good, with hog prices strong, the presence of a well-functioning supply chain (with top-notch processors like Maple Leaf Foods and HyLife) and feed costs coming down.

Despite current uncertainty about potential tariffs of exports to the U.S., Cam Dahl, general manager of Manitoba Pork, said everything else in the sector is in good shape.

Asked if there will be new barn construction any time soon, Dahl said: “I think we are going to see that this year. The last couple of years, the outlook was not great. I think we are going to see a renewal happen.”

Like many other types of business, the industry has consolidated so there aren’t many small-time producers left in the market.

Lyle Peters and eight members of his extended family run one of the larger operations in the province near Steinbach. They employ another 35 people at a 5,000-sow operation that produces 130,000 hogs every year destined for the HyLife processing plant in Neepawa.

Peters said the market is not always perfect but has been good a for a few years and it looks like it will be good again in 2025.

Although they will grow their grain farming acreage to 13,000 (from 10,000) next year, Peters said building a new hog barn is a tricky proposition.

The family business had to rebuild a large hog barn because of a fire in 2017. At that time, the cost of construction was about $150 per pig space.

“The last quote we got was something like $800 per pig,” he said Wednesday. “It’s easier to buy and renovate.”

When it comes to construction or renovation, facilities are much different than in the past.

Peters said they chose to install the open, loose sow housing concept in the 2018 rebuild. The industry is committed to have the design in place across the country by 2029.

Peters figures it will cost him about $1.5 million to convert another barn acquired only a couple of years ago for $3 million.

“It is a significant expense, but we’re going to do it … In my mind, the rules the industry imposes all make sense,” he said.

Among other things, the rules translate into higher quality meat. “The pork chops we had as kids are nothing like the ones we have now,” Peters said.

That, too, was on display at the expo in the form of the top carcasses from the pork quality competition.

The meat from the 44 carcasses in the competition is slated for donation to Siloam Mission and Harvest Manitoba food bank.

Joey Dearborn of Manitoba Pork said the competition generates some 35,200 meals for families across the province. It’s part of Manitoba Pork’s outreach program that includes the donation of 11 freezers full of ground pork the organization has donated to food banks across the province.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca