BALCARRES, Sask. — A $6-million pig barn specializing in high-quality genetics opened last week in southern Saskatchewan.
The 540-sow barn owned by National Pig Development (Canada) Co. Ltd. will produce 10,000 pigs each year.
The company hopes to sell 1,000 to 1,500 boars and about 5,000 females for breeding stock. The rest will go for slaughter, said Ed Johnson, National Pig president, at the barn 110 kilometres northeast of Regina.
In the barn, a computer ranks the animals by its genetics. The pigs with the best traits are kept.
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“In the pig industry one looks at feed conversion,” Johnson said.
“You want to take a pound of feed and convert it to a pound of lean meat as quickly as possible.”
Most of the breeding stock is sold in Canada, although some is exported to the United States. There is also a possibility of sales to Brazil.
The Tullymet barn, named for its location in the rural municipality of Tullymet, will employ 17 people.
Except for the manager, most of the employees, mainly women, will be hired locally.
“We believe a female in a pig barn is a very positive asset,” Johnson said.
“They do better than males. They’re more caring, more nurturing.”
The barn is also described as a more caring environment for the pigs and employees.
It has an under-pit ventilation system sweeping the manure gas under the floor and out of the building. The manure lagoon is straw-covered to keep odor under control. The effluent will not be spread on top of nearby fields, but injected into the soil.
Anyone entering the barn must shower and dress in clean overalls. The barn is washed and fumigated each time pigs are moved in or out.
In addition to Tullymet, National Pig has a breeding barn and a finishing barn near Abernethy. The company also contracts two barns near Humboldt.
Investors named
Some of the money for expansion came through the province’s Crown Investments Corp. (CIC), the rest from National Pig and commercial lenders.
CIC minister John Penner said the equity investment totals $1.25 million and boosts CIC’s ownership of National Pig to 72 percent.
Agriculture minister Darrel Cunningham said it would be hard for Saskatchewan to compete in the industry without National Pig’s superior genetics.
“Without a base of good genetic stock you don’t get a good product to the consumer and you don’t get as good efficiency in producing it,” Cunningham said.
“I think the genetics in Saskatchewan are probably second to none, which gives us an edge in the market.”
Both Penner and Cunningham said CIC’s involvement in National Pig does not mean the province is competing against private operators.
“Hog producers in Saskatchewan don’t compete against each other, they compete against people … in Taiwan,” said Cunningham.
“This is not a commercial hog operation. We’re an equity partner. There is no subsidy, no loans,” said Penner.
National Pig is finalizing plans to build a segregated early-weaning facility near Tullymet. It will be a nursery for a contract with a Utah group.
As well, there are plans to build an artificial insemination unit.
