A standby plan to humanely dispose of weanling piglets is in the works, said Manitoba Pork Council general manager Andrew Dickson.
Amid a crushing downturn in the hog industry that has been exacerbated by the looming threat of country-of-origin labelling in the United States – the major buyer of Canadian feeder piglets – the value of 21-day-old weanlings has fallen into negative territory from as high as $40 a head just a few weeks ago.
“We’re working with federal and provincial officials in trying to have a standby plan ready in case people need to euthanize their weanlings,” said Dickson.
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A central location will be chosen where piglets will be brought and loaded into an airtight chamber and humanely killed with carbon dioxide gas, he said.
“There will be officials to proceed with the euthanization process and proper disposal of the animals, preferably rendering,” he said.
How many piglets might be destroyed depends on demand for the service from cash-strapped producers, he added.
“I don’t have firm numbers. But on the other hand, we can’t have people showing up and saying that they’re out of money and need to have somebody euthanize the animals tomorrow morning and I don’t have a program in place,” said Dickson.
“That’s what we’re trying to get ready for.”
With 80,000 weanlings being shipped to the U.S. each week, Dickson said that up to 25,000 piglets per week could be destroyed if a U.S.
labelling law forces feeder operations there to tap domestic sources instead of Canadian hogs.
Allan Preston, Manitoba’s assistant deputy minister of agriculture, confirmed that a contingency plan is being developed in consultation with all levels of government and industry representatives. No hog producers have yet requested assistance in disposing of piglets.
“Destroying weanling pigs is the last thing we want to do, but if we need to, we are working on a contingency plan,” said Preston. “Our main focus right now is to assist the industry to reduce the injury and find ways to make use of these piglets as opposed to killing them and throwing them in a hole somewhere.”
Planning for the operation has included consultations with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, given its expertise in mass culling in cases of disease outbreaks, and the Emergency Measures Organization regarding logistical considerations.
Agriculture Canada, the provincial government and industry officials are also involved in the discussion, he added.
But if hog producers request assistance, Manitoba’s Office of the Chief Veterinarian would carry out its responsibilities under the province’s Animal Care Act, said Preston. Under the act, when producers can’t afford to feed their animals, the province takes custody and then chooses how to dispose of them.
Dickson blamed some of the glut of piglets on delays in introducing the sow cull program, which pays producers $225 per sow unit removed from production for three years.
The time required for producers to apply for the program and file the paperwork necessary to enter what is essentially a contractual agreement with the government, has meant that piglets are still being born that nobody wants to buy.
In a related development, Manitoba conservation minister Stan Struthers introduced a bill last week that would make permanent the three regional hog moratoriums announced in March.
“This bill is part of an orderly process of establishing strong water protection following from the Clean Environment Commission’s report and this government’s regulation to halt new or expanded hog barns,” said Struthers.
The new law would apply to “hog alley” in the southeast of the province, the Red River Valley and the Interlake region. The remaining regions of the province would be subject to new, stricter requirements, including a ban on winter spreading of manure by 2013.
Dickson called the move to legislate a permanent ban on expansion bizarre.
“What is wrong with these people? I’ve never seen anything like this before. It’s just a political ploy to show how tough they are going to be on the environment,” he said.
“It’s just going to make it very awkward for the Conservatives to pull it all apart when they get in because it forces them to have a debate in the legislature.”
Keystone Agricultural Producers president Ian Wishart said his group does not support the moratorium because it is not based on science.
“It’s a political move. Everything that we’ve done in managing nutrients in this province has been based on science,” he said.
“If they want to take this to the nth degree, we should also have legislation to stop all development on Waverly West (a proposed suburban housing development south of Winnipeg) until they can prove that it’s sustainable as well.”
