WALDECK, Sask. – Working with pigs’ natural tendencies produces a
content animal and better tasting pork, say hog producers Bonita and
Doug Sauder.
They offer their large-scale family-operated finishing barn outside
Waldeck as one alternative to the corporate intensive livestock
operations that are becoming increasingly commonplace across the
Prairies.
Prairie Point Pork Producers’ eight barns can hold up to 8,000 pigs at
a time. Each barn houses 1,000 animals in two large pens separated by a
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feeding trough cutting across the centre.
Animals that are too large to ship are regularly sold to neighbours,
where they are well received.
“We know we’re producing better pigs,” Bonita said.
The Sauders believe their system allows pigs to do what comes
naturally, namely eat, sleep and grow.
Animals fight and bite less because they have more room to take flight
as the herd works out its natural pecking order.
“It gives the industry a model of an alternative to a conventional
barn,” she said.
The system cost $230 per hog space to build, compared to $325-$375 in
conventional ILOs.
When the Sauders built the barns in 2000, their goal was to be
sensitive to the environment and their pigs’ welfare.
“Our objective was not to build a big ugly stinky thing,” Bonita said.
They were able to give up their off-farm jobs and make a living from
the farm, with the help of their boys Thomas and Dusty.
The hog venture was also chosen to reduce their reliance on the weather
and grain farming’s falling fortunes.
Barn odours are managed in part by four curtains in each building,
activated by sensors tied to a computer that monitors air temperature.
Natural sunlight brightens the barns during the day and fans are used
sparingly on colder days when the curtains are down. Flies are
admittedly a problem in the warmer months and mice control is necessary.
The noise is minimal, even with a stranger in the barn.
The animals will spend about 110 days with the Sauders, moving between
barns as they grow. Barns and the corridors between them are cleaned
after each group leaves.
Bonita explains the movement breaks the disease cycle. Drugs are not
used routinely, although sick pigs are quarantined and treated with
antibiotics.
The barns have concrete floors, covered in straw that absorbs much of
the pungent ammonia smell. The pens slope to the centre, with animals
tending to defecate there and sleep at the sides. The Sauders said the
straw begins to compost and creates heat that warms the pigs.
Manure is removed with a skid steer and spread over their alfalfa and
neighbouring fields.
It is held in an above-ground clay, earth and plastic-lined lagoon
capable of holding one year’s supply of waste. Adjacent to this area,
on a concrete slab, manure is mixed with straw and animal remains in a
compost that can break down animal carcasses within a few days in the
summer.
The family home is across the road from the barns, and the Sauders said
odour is minimal, although it was pungent during the hot, humid days of
last summer.
Their one employee, who helps with chores such as manure removal and
spreading, is paid about $15 an hour. Their two sons also help run the
operation, with Dusty, 18, in charge of the computerized feed mill.
Biosecurity measures, posted on a sign outside the barns, are enforced
with on-site showers and laundry facilities for workers and visitors.
Every Monday, the Sauders ship market-ready 260 pound hogs to a Red
Deer company under a contract finishing arrangement. On the same day,
500 new piglets arrive at the barns.
Pigs are automatically sorted on shipping day using a scale that
directs them back into the barns if not yet at shipping weight.
The computerized feed mill delivers feed according to a set recipe.
Sensors in the feed troughs restock bunkers when stocks get low.
Straw and grain are bought locally to avoid freight costs.
The Sauders said their system works well, but is labour intensive.
“It is harder work,” Bonita said.
She and Doug believe that making sure incoming pigs are uniform and
disease free is fundamental to their success.
They said more work is needed to educate packers about presenting pork
from systems like theirs in a different way to create markets and get
premiums that recognize the environmental and animal welfare benefits.
Bonita said that won’t change until consumers and retailers demand it.
“Packers aren’t interested in changing their ways,” Bonita said.
Added Doug: “We are proud of what we did, but one of us needed to be a
hard-nosed businessman.”
He felt their production numbers were too small to carry much weight
with the packers.
“The challenges are big and we’re not big enough to play with the big
boys.”
While the Sauders’ operation was comparable in size to other pig
operations when they began, they have been eclipsed by a recent
proliferation of large ILOs. Doug said four companies raise 80 percent
of Saskatchewan pigs.
Change looms within the year for the Sauders as they enter their 20th
year of farming. They are no strangers to big changes in their lives,
having seeded down their seven-quarter farm to alfalfa when the Crow
Benefit subsidy disappeared in the 1990s.
They will turn the pig barns over to a new owner in the coming year,
but will continue to live and work on site.
Doug will act as a consultant for an accounting firm, advising others
on the operation of similar hog production systems.
