Sell pigs by target weight
Top-quality hogs sold at optimum carcass weights bring in the highest returns, according to a display prepared by Agriculture Canada and various packing plants.
The meat quality and carcass values display drew considerable interest at Hog Days ’94 in Brandon.
The more uniform the weight at which producers marketed their hogs, the better control packers had on uniformity of pork cuts, according to the study. Packers were willing to pay for uniformity and the current grading grid reflects their commitment.
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The ideal carcass weight is 80 to 84.99 kg for top index. Carcasses weighing 75 to 79.99 kg and 85 to 89.99 kg are also readily accepted, giving producers a 15 kg weight window to strive for in marketing. The best method of reaching that target weight is by weighing every market hog. Penalties for light or heavy hogs outside of these weight ranges are costly.
If your hogs are yielding 80 percent, you should strive to ship hogs at between 100 and 110 kg.
With potential losses from $16 to $24 a head, a $550 scale can be a valuable tool in any hog operation.
- Manitoba Swine Update
Test application of Edge
A new agricultural research project is underway at Lakeland College in Vermilion, Alta., in co-operation with DowElanco, a major agricultural chemical manufacturer. The project started April 28.
Using a field on the college’s student-managed farm, research and product development teams from DowElanco are working to determine if pre-emergent herbicides can be effective in controlling weeds and crop disease without full soil incorporation.
Edge, a DowElanco product, is the herbicide being used for the experiment. Instead of double cultivation, the traditional means of fully incorporating the herbicide, a Phoenix rotary harrow is being used to lightly incorporate the herbicide with minimal stubble disturbance.
Although DowElanco recommends that Edge be fully incorporated, says college instructor Peter Walsh, some producers over the last few years have been using the herbicide without incorporation and have been getting favorable results.
The 30-hectare research field (about 75 acres) is located five kilometres west of Vermilion. It has three experimental plots with different tillage systems — zero, minimal and conventional. DowElanco is using about 2.5 hectares of these plots.
On another plot site, the company will test the effects of different formulations of chemical on crop yield.
All tests will be monitored by DowElanco and college staff. Evaluation methods will include weed counts during the summer and crop yield comparisons in the fall. An additional benefit to Lakeland College’s Crop Technology program is receiving the herbicide from DowElanco as payment in kind.
Additional projects underway this year by the crop technology program include evaluating yield and variety trials for the Alberta Barley Commission and monitoring test plots of pea, lentil and faba bean varieties for the Alberta Pulse Growers Association.
- Lakeland College news
