The Rural Voice, 1992-06, Page 26Improving
the breed
with
high tech
Thames Bend Farms
uses all the modern
gadgets to advance
pork genetics
Modern farmers often get upset
about the low-tech image of their
work that pervades urban media, but
probably even few farmers could
envision the high-tech world of pork
production in place at Thames Bend
Farms at Tavistock.
Ultra sound imaging matched to
Story and photos by Keith
Roulston
computer measuring and recording,
computerized feeding systems that
record the food intake of each pen of
pigs and artificial insemination are all
put to work in the name of improving
breeding selection and advancing still
further the fame of Canadian
breeding stock.
There's no doubt Thames Bend,
run by Warren and Richard Stein, is
on the cutting edge of Canadian pork
production but all Canadians can take
credit for a system that has put the
country out front in breeding leaner,
faster -growing stock, Warren says.
Thames Bend just wants to take the
business of genetic selection one
more giant step.
Confirmation that they're on the
right track came in a recent study at
Purdue University in Indiana in
which Stein pigs were grouped with
pigs from various U.S. breeding firms
in one of the most thorough
Warren Stein has helped many
advances in pig genetics, but nothing
as big as this pig used in promotional
displays.
22 THE RURAL VOICE