BEISEKER, Alta. – A hog of a different colour has arrived in Canada.
A joint venture between Alberta-based Rocky Mountain Pork and Danbred
North America has introduced Danish swine genetics to Canada.
The Danish breeding system fits in well with the Canadian style, says
swine consultant Bernard Peet.
“Canada is more like the European system. It has had very steady
genetic improvement,” said Peet, who works with Rocky Mountain Pork.
Peet has worked with the Danish pork industry for most of his career.
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He is familiar with Danish standards of quality control and breeding
programs involving producers and processors.
Danbred North America has been working in the United States since 1993
to generate a well-muscled, leaner market hog. The hogs are fast
growing and range in colour from blonde to black.
Canadians already have a good reputation for high quality hog genetics
so the Danish system complements what is already in place, said Peet.
“There is enough advantage in this product to differentiate themselves
in the marketplace.”
Composite breeding schemes involving producers and processors are
common in Denmark where more than one million commercial hogs are
enrolled in a national pork plan. Danish pork is considered among the
best quality in the world.
“The Danes are very open about what they do. They are completely
transparent,” said Peet.
“The Danes take the view, ‘by the time you catch up with us, we’ll be
three steps ahead anyway,’ ” he said.
Besides being bigger and faster growing, Danbred composite hogs deliver
more live piglets averaging 14.5 pigs per litter in just over two
pregnancies per year.
The stress gene has also been bred out of this line of hogs. Stress
causes pork to be soft, pale and not hold moisture when cooked.
The Danbred breeding system is based on four pure breeds including the
Landrace, Large White, Duroc and Hampshire. The female line is a
Landrace-Large White cross.
The females are crossed back to Duroc to create a boar line called the
771 Plus terminal male.
These males will be bred to Canadian born gilts to produce commercial
hogs with muscular, long bodies and heavy hams.
The sire side is derived from the Duroc and Hampshire breeds that
inject the wide palette of colour not usually seen in Canadian hog
barns.
A Canadian nucleus herd is being established with imports of pigs and
semen from the United States and Denmark. Three boar studs, two in
central Alberta and one in Ontario, are producing semen to build the
sire lines in Canada. Boars are already available for sale.
The hogs are raised in a low stress, minimal medication diet under the
eyes of farm manager Fay Lock at Beiseker, Alta.
She finds Danbred composite hogs are easy to handle with a quiet
temperament. She believes in nurturing rather than needles, so
medication is not used unless absolutely necessary.
“My policy is if the sow is farrowing, you stay out of there. If you
have to grab a piglet, you stretch,” she said.
Rocky Mountain Pork, which is involved in the multiplication program,
consists of 12,000 producers who have a five year supply contract with
Red Deer’s Olymel Ltd., formerly Fletcher’s Fine Foods. The producers
are under no obligation to use the Danbred hogs.
Gilts produced in the boar multiplier unit are shipped for slaughter to
Olymel, which provides extensive carcass merit information.
Carcass weights average 97 kilograms compared to the plant average of
91 kg, and loin depth tends to be larger.
