When you visit the home of Stan Yaskiw, it’s easy to guess that he’s a hog producer.
A towel rack, fridge magnets, a toothpick holder and cutting board are among the household items that depict pigs. If you sit down for a meal there, don’t be surprised to see hot mats shaped like pigs.
“And there’s a piggy bank too,” said Yaskiw, listing off the assortment of items that reflect the type of livestock raised at his farm near Birtle, Man.
Pigs are ingrained in the life of Yaskiw, who has been around the pork-bearing mammals for most of his life. His father raised pigs, and Yaskiw continued with that tradition, building on the enterprise until he had a feeder operation that produced 2,000 finished animals a year.
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But the household knick-knacks will soon be the only sign of hogs at the Yaskiw farm. The real pigs will all be gone this spring.
After working with the blunt-nosed animals for 41 years, Yaskiw is departing from the industry.
He believes the end of an era is unfolding in Manitoba. Independent, family hog farms are gradually being replaced by larger, corporate-style barns. Yaskiw, 47, sees the American trend of vertical integration being transplanted into the province.
Reasons for decision
He blames policy for the trend that is unfolding. It’s things such as vertical integration backed by corporations that are edging out the province’s smaller producers, he said. He noted that in Minnesota, only farmers are allowed to own hogs and hog barns.
Part of the writing was also on the wall when the province pulled the plug on the hog marketing monopoly once held by Manitoba Pork, Yaskiw said.
By ending his involvement with pigs, Yaskiw knows his farm will be less diversified. He also admits that he will miss something that was a large part of his life.
“It’ll seem pretty strange to not go out and do chores.”
The trend toward a rationalized hog industry with fewer producers has been going on for years, said Martin Rice, executive director of the Canadian Pork Council. It appears the nosedive in hog prices last fall did little to accelerate that trend.
“We have not been shown much anecdotal evidence yet that there’s been a serious exit from the industry from any particular segment.”
Rice said there was “some success” in convincing creditors not to pull loans on well managed operations that were hit hard by a slump in hog prices. Creditors concerned about the viability of a farm are more likely to wait until prices recover and the value of the farm’s assets have improved, he said.
Marcel Hacault, chair of Manitoba Pork, agreed with that assessment. He also agreed there is a trend toward larger hog operations in Manitoba. Among other things, he said environmental restrictions are fostering that change.
While he doesn’t object to some degree of regulation, he said environmentalists and a number of municipalities have demands that add considerably to the cost of building a new barn. It’s easier for a larger operation to absorb those costs than it is for a small-scale venture. That creates an incentive for people wanting to build a barn to go big.
“The only way you can go big is to latch onto a co-operative or get a bunch of people together.”
The irony, according to Hacault, is that environmentalists opposed to large hog operations are actually creating a situation that promotes them.
In terms of the latest price slump, Hacault hasn’t seen an exodus of smaller producers from the hog industry. What he has seen is a number of producers seeking production contracts with larger companies in the swine and feed industry.
“Rather than getting out of hogs, they would be getting out of owning the hogs.”
