The Rural Voice, 1982-10, Page 11it A; ill T NeZ.404..Lrisesaft
From left to right in front of the Henry home at Maitland Manor, Bluevale are Jose Luis Fvenmayor, Mary Henry, Jose
Arrieta and interpreter Evilio Cordon.
Venezuelan's see hog production first hand
When the Ontario Pork Congress
Export Committee started shipping breed-
ing stock to Venezuela, they soon found
that Venezuelan hog producers wanted to
find out more about how pigs are raised in
Canada. When several members of the
Committee offered to host anyone who
wanted to spend some time in Ontario,
the Venezuelan Swine Association asked
their hog producers if any of their sons (in
Venezuela, women do not work in barns)
would like to come to Canada for three
months to work on Ontario hog farms. As
a result, four boys arrived at Toronto
International Airport on August 12th to
start their educational stay in Canada.
The Rural Voice caught up with two of
them at Maitland Manor near Bluevale
where Don Henry and his family have a
large swine breeding operation.
Jose Arrieta, 18 and Jose Luis Fven-
mayor, 16, both live in Maracaibo, a
beautiful city on the shores of Lake
Maracaibo, an inland salt water sea in
northern Venezuela. In Venezuela, far-
mers all live in the city and commute to
their farms which are outside the city
limits. Some commute daily and some
stay out at their farms during the week
and go home on weekend.
Jose's cousin is a swine breeder and
Jose Luis' father has a large swine
operation and had bought some gilts and
boars from Ontario two years ago. Both
boys were keen to come to Ontario and
study pig production. As Jose and Jose
Luis speak only Spanish, Mary Henry
arranged for Evilio Cordon from Guate-
mala, who lives and works at Alvin
Baker's farm next door to the Henrys, to
act as an interpreter for the interview.
First of all, the boys explained how pigs
are raised completely differently in Vene-
zuela, mainly due to the very hot climate
and the availability of cheap labour. Pigs
are all kept in open barns which do not
need artificial ventilation or heat and are
thus less expensive to build. Jose said they
are surprised to find so many different
rooms in Ontario pig barns, each specially
designed for pigs at different ages.
in a Venezuelan hog barn, every pig is
hosed down with water twice a day which
keeps them cool and also very clean (pigs
there do not suffer from lice or mange).
However, manure handling is a problem
as it is against the law to spread manure
on crops to be used for human consump-
tion.
Another surprise for the boys was the
fact that women here often work in pig
barns along side their husbands. Jose Luis
said that his mother only came to the barn
for a visit or to deliver a message. Both
boys felt this was because farm labour is
easily obtainable in Venezuela, even
though wages are very low.
Venezuelan farmers use the same type
of feed for their hogs as we use in
Canada, but they do not grow it. It is all
purchased from Purina at approximately
$300. (Can.) per tonne and delivered to
the farms ready for use. Jose Luis said
that his father is coming to Canada early
in October for a visit and to take some
seed corn home to see how it will grow in
Venezuela. In addition to his swine
operation, Fvenmayor, Sr. farms 500
hectares, owns 100 dairy cows, some beef
cattle, 500 chickens (eggs are collected
daily) and 50 horses which are used for
farm work.
When asked what is the greatest
problem for swine producers in Venc
zuela, both boys agreed that it is the
marketing of the hogs. There are not
enough abattoirs in the country and
consequently hogs delivered to the yards
may not be slaughtered for 4-5 days,
during which time they are not always
properly fed and watered. The losses can
be enormous. Consequently, many far-
mers slaughter their own pigs and take
them to a farmer's market for sale. The
Venezuelan Pork Association is planning
to build their own packing plant to try to
solve this problem.
After spending three months working
on swine operations owned by Don
Henry, Paul Moser at Wellesley and Ken
Thompson at Woodstock, the boys will
return home to share their knowledge
with other Venezuelan hog producers.
Both Jose and Jose Luis agreed that the
thing they liked the best about farming in
Canada was the fact that the owner's
home is located right on the farm and that
the whole family is involved in the farm
operation.
THE RURAL VOICE / OCTOBER 1982 PG 11