There are plans in every stage of construction from idea to site preparation to build 83 new hog barns in Alberta, says the head of the provincial agriculture department’s pork and poultry section.
“There is an unprecedented interest in hogs,” said Fred Schuld.
The 83 barns would house about 56,000 sows. Those sows would produce more than a million hogs a year, about a third of the province’s present 2.8 million hogs.
The number of reports of new barns is about double what the provincial government normally gets, said Schuld, adding there could be more they don’t know about.
What is also unusual is the size of the proposed barns, he said.
“The size of the projects are quite large.”
Translated into dollars, the 83 barns would cost $250 million to build. About the same amount would be needed to buy the feed and hogs.
