Benchmark Magazine Article Archive

Thousands of miles separate swine producers across the world. As you travel from country to country, you notice differences of geography, languages and customs, but what about swine production practices? We thought it would be interesting to hear from several swine producers pertaining to: What’s a typical day like, setting goals, motivation, etc. Read their stories and hear about “A Day in the Life”.

Biosecurity is a top concern in the livestock industry since it affects performance, economic results and can even close markets for trading when catastrophic disease occur. Excellent examples of current international biosecurity concerns include African Swine Fever (ASF), Classical Swine Fever (CSF), and Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) that could dramatically affect export sales.

As noted previously, humans are most likely to be the ones to bring in the African swine fever virus into Canada, either by bringing in contaminated meat, or by travelling with the virus on their clothes, footwear and personal items. Although the virus does not infect humans, it is very deadly for the pigs who come into contact with it. The introduction of African swine fever into Canada would put over 100,000 jobs in jeopardy and cost the Canadian economy $24 billion dollars.

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a viral disease that causes high mortality in domestic and wild pigs. It, along with Classical Swine Fever and Foot and Mouth Disease, is one of the Big Three highly transmissible diseases that would stop our export markets cold if identified in the United States or Canada.

As the swine industry continues to grow and progress, we are faced with new challenges. One topic that is making its way to the frontlines is animal welfare. Producers are constantly challenged with improving living conditions for their animals to continue producing a safe end-product, as well as building relationships with consumers.

When I first looked through the summary data, the item that sticks out to me is Death Rate. In my opinion, death rate seems to be a “flashing red” concern. Thinking of this I decided to look back at previous Benchmark reports and do a comparison. Comparing data over the years showed a continuous higher trend of Death Rate in sows. As you read articles and attend seminars you hear that the industry has also recognized higher mortality rates in sows. On our farm, we moved to large pen gestation 10 years ago. Since that time, we have seen increased lameness and a noticeable uptrend in sow Death Rate.

Retaliatory tariffs from major U.S. trading partners are wreaking havoc with American agriculture and other sectors of the U.S. economy. Pork producers have taken a big financial hit because of punitive duties on their products.

The U.S. pork industry now is on three retaliation lists: two from China and one from Mexico.

When it comes to decision making within the swine industry, there are a lot of factors to consider. In this mix of competing priorities, biosecurity and logistics can sometimes take a backseat to topics like genetics, markets or technology. It can be easier to focus on the more enjoyable decisions that need to be made for your farm than it is to address the issues that take more planning to address.

Number of Farms: 29

When we think about swine production in 2018, there’s a lot of areas of the industry to consider. The procurement sector takes great care in making purchasing and processing decisions.

For this Benchmark article, we asked two professionals in this sector to give some insights into the data they use to support choices and the ways they can use the information they collect to make future decisions.

Number of farms: 340

If you could look into a crystal ball to learn about the future of the swine industry, would you? While the PigCHAMP team does not have any magical powers, we do have a lot of great assets – and one of them is you!

The National Pork Producers Council has identified over 100 risks that a hog producer can face in any given year.

At PigCHAMP, we have the honor to work with producers who raise pigs for a variety of different areas of the pork industry. One such producer is Gustavo de Sousa e Silva, a research scholar in the Department of Veterinary Diagnostic and Production Animal Medicine in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University (ISU). He has worked on several swine-related research projects using PigCHAMP software during his time at ISU and agreed to share some of the details with us.

Let’s start with the bottom-line for a change: consumer preferences, and hence consumer demand, drive meat prices. The evidence for this fact could not be starker than in pork cuts. With “meaties” craving heartier flavours, like those in bacon, the primal cut value of pork bellies reached US$1.85/lb in February 2017.

Introverts and extroverts. Analytical and creative. Leaders and followers. Easy-going and meticulous. GED and DVM. The composition of your staff often brings together people of various backgrounds, personalities, education levels and experiences. Knowing what unique qualities each employee can bring to your business helps you build an effective team and make the most of each person’s potential. If built successfully, the whole team is greater than the sum of the individual employees.