RED DEER – Alberta pork producers want the government to know the bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis has hurt them as much as it has hurt producers of the other red meats.
“BSE has hit us hard,” said vice-chair Jack Moerman at the regional meeting of Alberta Pork held in Red Deer Nov. 13.
“This is a whole meat problem, not just a beef problem.”
A single case of BSE shut the borders to all ruminants, causing economic hardship throughout the rural landscape. As more people switched to beef to support the cattle industry, they bought less pork.
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A letter from hog producers to agriculture minister Shirley McClellan is being circulated outlining the problem and requesting financial aid.
Already troubled economically, the industry was forced to make some changes.
Lower demand for pork in Canada encouraged more exports of weaner pigs, market hogs and cull cows to the United States. This is angering American producers who say Canada is flooding their market and causing prices to drop.
In addition, foreign customers have placed new specifications on Canadian hogs.
They will not accept hogs that have been fed meat or bone meal products. Alternative and sometimes more costly protein supplements had to be found. They may still use pig starter with blood meal components but that is under examination, said Alberta Pork chair Bill Wildeboer.
“There was no problem with the feed but the perception was there,” he said.
Maple Leaf Foods prohibited the use of bone meal early this fall in hog feed to assure Japanese customers no animal byproducts were used.
Also, packers deducted $1 per pig to cover extra rendering costs. Producers are also facing the cost of paying renderers to haul away deadstock.
All this cost the average producer between $7 to $11 per hog.
“When there is no profit to start with, that is a greater loss,” Wildeboer said in an interview.
