To Americans, a 600-sow pig barn is a relatively small family farm.
To Canadians, it’s a large operation.
So statements by two United States experts that 600-sow family farms will probably do better than huge corporate operations probably isn’t much solace to prairie hog producers.
But Marilyn Jonas of Pork Central, the Saskatchewan government’s hog promotion agency, thinks size isn’t the sole or most important factor in deciding who’s going to survive.
“I think the producers who see the signs of the future will be with us,” said Jonas. “There are a bunch of things we can do as mid-sized producers to use new technology.”
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Western Canadian hog farms are generally smaller than the 600-sow units typical for U.S. farmers. In 1997 in Saskatchewan, only 73 of the province’s 1,611 hog farms had more than 200 sows. Excluding the marginal operations that produce fewer than 100 market pigs per year, those 200-sow or more operations made up only 12 percent of Saskatchewan farms.
Purdue University hog industry analyst Kirk Clark told the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium that he thinks 600 to 1,200 sow, debt-free units will be able to hold their own against huge corporate operations, some of which produce more than 500,000 hogs per year.
But he revealed data that showed that smaller hog farms will have trouble competing.
He described people with 150 or fewer sows as “not the people who will raise the pigs in the future, but they’re still out there.”
Production costs between 1,200-sow and 600-sow operations are not radically different, Clark said. It costs $34.25 (U.S.) per hundredweight in the 1,200-sow operation, and $35.72 in the 600-sow unit.
But the costs are radically higher for 150 sow, low technology farms, at $47.88.
However, this is what gave Jonas heart. Clark showed how small-scale producers could upgrade production techniques to approach the efficiencies of the larger units.
They can stay the same size but use early weaning and all-in, all-out production techniques. That alone can save $4.75 per cwt.
Improved genetics can make small facilities more competitive. Clark estimated the gain from using good genetics at $3.38 per cwt.
Small-scale operators can cut their cost of production per cwt. to $40.54, he said.
But this still leaves them $6.29 cwt. above the cost of 1,200-sow units. Clark said the technology gains can give small producers breathing room, but they must expand in the end.
“Those who want to be totally independent in the future may want to accept the objective to achieve a size which will be 600 sows or larger,” said Clark.
But Jonas said many problems come more from an operation’s level of debt than from its size.
She said the technological changes that small producers can adopt to improve efficiency provide hope and direction.
“People still have the opportunity to be part of the industry …. They just need to act big.”
