About 1,000 hog farms across the Prairies are registered in the Canadian Quality Assurance program for pork.
Manitoba has the largest number of registrants, with 590 producers signed on as of Oct. 6.
They account for at least 60 percent of the province’s hog production, said Deanne Miller, Manitoba Pork Council swine extension specialist.
“Most of them know they have to do it sooner or later.”
Miller said most producers who have registered already practise the measures encouraged under the CQA program.
After registering in the program, producers must keep detailed records of their farm management practices for at least three months.
They may then apply for validation, a process that includes an assessment of their routine practices in hog production.
In Saskatchewan, 114 farms are registered with seven producers now validated, said Donald Dyker, Sask Pork’s quality assurance co-ordinator.
The 114 farms account for about 55 percent of all hogs produced in Saskatchewan.
There are 240 farms enrolled in Alberta, said Dawn LeBlanc, Alberta’s CQA co-ordinator, representing 43 percent of the market hogs raised in that province.
