WINNIPEG – Pssst. Wanna buy a prolific pig?
A group of farmers in Manitoba and Ontario are now selling Chinese hogs legendary for their reproductive abilities.
And they say when a European-cross gilt is bred with a Chinese boar, the elusive perfect pig may be the result.
“We’re going to develop a Canadian pig that the rest of the world is going to beat a path to our door for,” said Wayne Kreklewich of Beeton, Ont., who claims the hogs could revolutionize the hog industry in North America.
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“We know the marketplace is going to go absolutely crazy.”
Kreklewich said he has already received offers ranging from $5,000 to $6,000 for a young boar.
But a swine geneticist with Agriculture Canada said farmers should be absolutely sure of what they’re getting into before they shell out five times the price of a good boar.
“Reproductively, they’re fantastic,” said Bob McKay. “Carcass-wise, they’re kind of a little bit off. They carry a lot of fat.”
The hogs are a mix of Meishan, Fengjing and Ming breeds. The farmers have dubbed them as purebred “Shar-Pei” because they have wrinkled faces like the dogs of the same name.
McKay said the hogs are known for their large litters. They reach sexual maturity near 100 days, at least 80 days before European breeds.
And while the average birth rate for sows here is 9.2 piglets per litter, the Chinese sows can bear up to 20.
“It’s a massive marketplace,” Kreklewich enthused. “If we can increase that pig litter size up from 9.2 to say, 11.2 or 12, that’s a massive amount of additional money for the producer.”
Kreklewich said the high price for breeding stock would pay off. “Basically, people would be into a money-making situation with the birth of the first offspring,” he said.
The farmers say the hogs can be raised as purebreds for ethnic markets.
“Our pork is just too lean for Chinese and Japanese tastes here in North America,” Kreklewich said.
Increase litter size
As well, the Chinese hogs can be crossed with European-type swine to increase productivity. “Bigger pig farmers are just wanting boars just to cross with their sows to get the cross,” said Lyall Bates, of Gilbert Plains, Man., who owns the Chinese hogs.
But McKay said farmers can’t just add a Chinese boar to their herd and immediately expect genetic improvements. In fact, they could end up doing more harm than good.
“They’re incredibly fat,” he said. “We haven’t had pigs with that kind of fat in this country since probably the ’40s and ’50s. They’ll blow right off the bottom end of the (grading) index.”
But Kreklewich said a Chinese boar bred to a Landrace-Yorkshire-Duroc gilt will produce “the perfect pig” with “an acceptable level of backfat.”
Backfat in the offspring is “hardly much more than what we’ve got now on the North American pig,” Bates added.
Bates said data from studies on what crosses yield good results will be given to buyers.
