Manitoba pork industry growing; prepares to control threat of wild pigs, diseases

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This article was published 07/04/2022 (1304 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Like everyone else, Manitoba’s pork industry — which contributes $1.7 billion to the provincial economy — had all sorts of challenges throughout the pandemic, but it still continued to grow.

And as if the public health regime used to push back COVID-19 was a dress rehearsal, the industry is becoming mobilized to keep diseases like African swine fever (ASF) and porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in check.

And if that is not enough, the province is also bracing itself to deal with the a potential growing population of the most invasive large mammal species on the planet — wild boars.

At Manitoba Pork’s annual meeting on Wednesday, Rick Préjet, the organization’s chairman, said, “Disease management is a key issue going into 2022.”

It is part of the organization’s new five-year strategic plan that focuses on industry profitability, engagement and public trust.

Notwithstanding the industry’s concern about disease control — there have been 92 cases of PED confirmed in the province since Oct. 25, 2021, and no incidents of ASF — and being on guard against the spread of wild boars, Cam Dahl, Manitoba Pork’s CEO said it is “a growing industry that attracts investment, sustains independent production, and provides economic opportunity for a wide range of producers, including young producers.”

Last year, Maple Leaf Foods, the dominant player in the provincial pork industry, invested $182 million in its new bacon facility in Winnipeg, creating 350 jobs and the Dutch company, Topigs Norsvin, spent more than $30 million on a new hog genetics facility north of Gladstone.

Dahl also noted there were nine new barns approved in 2021 with room for 3,100 more sows and about 80,000 nursery and finishing piglets.

Préjet and others made the point that overcoming just about everything the industry has to deal with depends on the entire industry working together.

“Communication and collaboration is at the core of all we do,” Préjet said.

That is likely to be a crucial element in the province’s efforts to deal with potential packs of enormous, menacing wild beasts.

Dr. Wayne Lees, the province’s former chief veterinary officer, is on the province’s invasive swine eradication project that was just created in January.

“It is brand new,” he said. “Some of the other provinces have been at this for a few years. We are trying to get up to speed. But one of the benefits is we can learn from what others have done.”

Ryan Brook, a University of Saskatchewan animal and poultry science professor, is the country’s expert in wild boars/wild pig problem.

Brook, who also spoke at the Manitoba Pork AGM, did not mince words.

“There are no predators, they are insanely aggressive, they eat just about anything and they keep going all year,” he said, with two litters per year of about six piglets per litter.

He has been studying wild pigs for 12 years and part of his pitch is to convince people they actually exist.

But his team has recorded more than 60,000 sightings across the country, the overwhelming majority of them in the Prairies.

His work indicated that the vast majority are in Saskatchewan but about 30 per cent are in Manitoba with the area around Spruce Woods the hot spot in this province.

“It is a very serious issue that we need to take seriously,” he said.

They come in all sorts of hybrid breeds but can be massive. Brook said the biggest one he’s handled was 638 pounds and he’s seen one that was more than 800 pounds.

They have become established in the U.S with about seven million mostly in Texas, Florida, and California.

“They’re a huge problem there,” Brook said. “The USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) tells us they account for about $2.5 billion per year in crop damage alone. It is a massive impact.”

As well as all the ecological damage they cause — their voracious appetites alter the entire ecosystem in the area — they are a cause for concern for the commercial hog industry in the province because of their potential to spread disease.

Lees said that despite the tight bio-safety measures in place in most hog barns in the province, there is always the chance that disease can get transmitted.

Just like the importance the hog industry places on collaboration and co-operation, Brook said managing wild boars needs the same degree of co-operation across the Prairies.

“Once you have firmly established wild pigs, get ready to live with them. The window is shut. They are there forever,” he said. “You can manage risk and control the population but you will have them.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca