Slumping lean hog prices have made for trying times recently in the industry, but producer interest was high at trade show
BRANDON — Anyone who wanted to meet a young, competitive, chatty hog producer last week just had to hang outside the glass-fronted hog cooler at the Brandon Hog and Livestock Show.
There, throughout the event, groups of young men, mostly Hutterites, came by, approached the glass and appraised the top five carcasses on display. To the right of the cooler stood the first, second and third place trophies, plus plaques for fourth and fifth places.
Some of the young producers seemed impressed, pointing out the high-quality markers they saw in the meat, fat, bone and colour. Keen eyes developed from years of careful animal husbandry in barns across Manitoba have given these lads, mostly teens and early 20s, a hands-on education that few in North America’s hog industry can boast.
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A handful seemed a little cheesed off, or perhaps a touch unimpressed. Maybe the carcass they entered — there were 30 in the competition — didn’t make the top five.
As always, there must be winners and losers, and the champion — this year it was Wellwood Colony — won far more than the towering trophy.
“It’s bragging rights,” said a beaming Andy Cardy, chair of the competition.
“The colonies are all involved.”
Having scores of young producers at the show, chatting with exhibitors and fellow farmers, was a joy for organizers of the show, which was last held in 2019.
This year saw producers and industry people flock back to the show.
It’s been a trying time for hog production, with slumping lean hog prices even drawing notice on Bloomberg Radio.
From $88 per hundredweight Chicago Lean Hogs futures in January 2023, prices hit $66 during the show, before more-dovish-than-expected language from the U.S. central bank governor ignited a cross-markets rally, lifting prices to $70.
Still, it’s a lean time in the pig production business.
Also hanging over the industry are all the complications from California’s Proposition 12 meat requirements, which come into force in a few weeks.
However, hog producers young and old are familiar with the boom and bust cycles of the hog industry. As one long-time hog production leader noted to a reporter, all the predictions of some that the hog cycle would disappear have proven false.
It’s not a good time for making money in hog production today, but for the young producers thronging this show and checking out the competition, nothing has changed when it comes to trying to produce the best pig and to see it recognized by friends and competitors.
“It’s a big, fun competition,” said Cardy.
