WINNIPEG – There’s a chance hog producers can improve pork quality by making changes in pigs’ environment, but it’s difficult to prove exactly what differences nurturing makes to the nature of swine.
At an annual seminar recently put on by Manitoba Agriculture and the University of Manitoba, speakers came armed with plenty of studies and graphs, but said it’s hard to give conclusive facts about the effects of environment on pork quality.
“You can do the experiment in the lab where you treat the pigs really carefully, and you’re not going to see any effect,” said Temple Grandin, a livestock behavior specialist from Colorado State University.
Read Also
Alberta researcher helps unlock the economics of farming
Lethbridge Polytechnic researcher helping agriculture producers with decision-making tools in economic feasibility
However, she said treating pigs with care throughout their short lives pays off when you try to take them to the processor.
Laurie Connor of the University of Manitoba told producers about her research into how housing and temperatures affect quality. She said conventional confinement barns have been associated with various quality problems. Pigs raised in enclosed buildings with low lighting, barren pens, slatted and little or negative contact with humans become highly stressed when they are removed from that environment. “They’re difficult to move,” she said. “And if they’re difficult to move, they’re going to tend to be the ones that are more susceptible to the traits that are associated with poor quality in meat.”
Less stressed
Connor said pigs raised in more comfortable shelters are calmer, more used to handling and more sure-footed, making it possible that they are less stressed when slaughtered.
She said pigs raised in more comfortable environments can develop slightly more backfat than pigs in conventional barns. But they also can produce a higher proportion of lean meat. Other than this, the effects of these “alternative” shelters on quality have not been well-documented.
Jerry Shurson, of the University of Minnesota, quoted results from a U.S. consumer study that shows only a quarter of consumers are very satisfied with pork quality, while an equal amount are not. Shurson said most consumers want pork to be lean, but juicy and tender. This involves finding “a balance between getting pigs lean enough … but not to the point where we adversely affect eating characteristics.”
He works with producers to customize diets to help cut costs and maximize quality.
