WINNIPEG – Swine breeders are upset that the provincial government wants to cut a program designed to help farmers improve the quality of their stock.
A government spokesperson said there’s not enough money or demand to keep the program going, and it should be privatized or paid for by the breeders.
But Bill Acheson, president of Manitoba Swine Breeders Association, said most breeders cannot afford to pay the full cost of performance tests.
Swine specialist Gus Wruck said the two levels of government have been running the swine improvement program for about 20 years. Technicians travel from farm to farm with a probe that measures fat, and records are kept of how long it takes hogs to get to market weight.
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Wruck said in the last five years, all provinces except Manitoba have been charging breeders or have privatized similar programs.
The machines used in the program are becoming outdated, said Bob McKay, a swine geneticist at Agriculture Canada’s Brandon Research Centre.
And now, Manitoba Pork and the provincial government have determined that technicians should be used in a new quality assurance program that will help ensure pork is free from drug residues.
Garry Tolton, a director of Manitoba Pork and a former swine breeder, said the new program is essential to ensure Manitoba farmers are competitive in world markets in upcoming years.
Wruck also said in the last 20 years, there has been a shift in sources of breeding stock. “It is no longer from these traditional breeders,” he said.
Commercial or hybrid breeders account for about 60 percent of pigs sold in Manitoba, Wruck said.
There are about 10 purebred breeders in the province. Along with a few commercial breeders, they’re the only ones using the program. Some of the purebred breeders have less than 10 sows.
“They’re so small that they hardly have any impact at all,” Wruck said.
Fewer small producers
Traditionally, these breeders have supplied small producers with hogs. But Wruck said small producers have been steadily dropping out of the industry each year, taking the breeders’ market with them.
He would not reveal how much the program cost, but said labor accounted for most of the costs, followed by travel and repair expenses. The work is carried out by employees in three swine technician positions.
Acheson said the money spent on the tests was a good investment. “It was a means of keeping the quality of breeding stock up at the grassroots, and consequently, we had better pigs going to market,” he said.
“It helped smaller breeders like myself in selling our pigs commercially.”
He also believes the province needs a purebred industry to supply commercial companies with parent stock for creating hybrids.
Acheson said the breeders told the government that cancelling the breeding program is “unacceptable,” and that they expected an alternate solution.
