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The Rural Voice, 1999-05, Page 651 PERTH irgk County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER John Nyenhuis, President, 519-393-6539 • The Rural Voice is provided to Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA Another month without profits in pork Any opinions expressed herein Inas not necessarily reflect the views of rhe Perth County Pork Producers' Association. As I write this article another Tight rain shower comes and goes. Here in Perth County we've had a good winter and spring, especially for getting around. I wish I could say the same for the price of hogs. Another month has gone by and we still can't reach profitable hog production. The latest excuse for the low prices is the large buildup of pork in cold storage. Personally I think our hog price is controlled by a few large packers in the U.S. About six or seven weeks ago I talked to a swine consultant from the U.S. who oversees a lot of swine operations all over the U.S. He told me the large packing houses in the U.S. are holding all the cards in their hands and that they will play them out to benefit themselves. He predicted a slow return to profitability and this would lead to some large takeovers in the U.S. Approximately three weeks atter I talked to this consultant, Smithfield Foods Inc. which owns 150,000 sows bought out Carrol Foods Inc. which owned 185;000 sows. Another of his predictions was that as the price starts improving the large packing houses would offer cost -of - production contracts before the price got too high. These contracts would help keep their cost of hogs from getting too high as they did a couple of years ago when the price of hogs exceeded the $2/kg mark. If they timed the duration of these contracts just right, the hog cycle is back in the gutter so they can renew these contracts for less. A group of us producers from Perth County went to Toronto to talk to Ontario Pork CEO Paul Knechtel and the head of the Marketing Department, Ian Muir last month after the annual meeting. In general they were both disappointed with the 35 new producer packer contracts that were awaiting Ontario Pork's third party signature since the annual meeting 10 days earlier. Their reason for being disappointed was if producers really wanted Ontario Pork to be the sole deal maker then why was there a big rush to get more producer -packer contracts signed. I would have to agree with their thinking atter the first day of the Annual meeting, but not after the second day when the producers voted in favour of Ontario Pork's "New Marketing Plan". The New Marketing Plan allows producers to sign contracts with packers and then have the board act as a third party signature. Maple Leaf and Quality foresee a shortage of hogs coming in the near future so they have been aggressively knocking on doors signing up hogs. In the meantime Ontario Pork has been busy trying to get the "New Marketing Plan" in place so producers will have more options available to market their hogs. One of the problems Ontario Pork has is that they have no platinum contracts available to date because packers are not willing to give the Board a better deal than what they are offering themselves directly to producers. Another problem is that there are several packers outside of Ontario willing to sign attractive block contracts with Ontario Pork but Ontario Pork needs the commitment of hogs from the producers first. In my opinion Ontario Pork should be more aggressive and inform producers of what is available if we signed up with them. It's just like buying a new vehicle — you want to check around first to see what suits your needs best, then you make your decision. Lately producers enrolled under the old Pool Plus program are being asked to sign up under the New Pool Plus program and they don't even have a list of what contracts are available. As producers we have to check with our Board about what is. available and if it's as good as, or better than, our producer -packer contracts, in my opinion we have to support our Board. As our industry gets controlled by fewer and fewer companies, it gets more and more important for us as smaller producers to speak and market our hogs as one through Ontario Pork. I still think, Ontario Pork could play a major role in keeping the independent family farm from turning into a family that works on the farm. Hopefully by now every pork producer in Ontario has heard about The Canadian Quality Assurance Program (CQA). It's one of those programs that we're going to have to (earn to live with it we want to compete as an industry in a global marketplace. This CQA program requires us as producers in most cases to be more responsible and aware of the various medicines. vaccines, feed and water medications and how we use them in our daily operations. Most packers will require everyone to be CQA-approved by the year 2000 so time is against us. How do we get started? Attend a CQA workshop and buy a manual for $34.50 (tax included) at the workshop or from Ontario Pork. You should read the manual and then call your veterinarian to see what is the best way to implement the program in your operation. Before you can be CQA- approved you need to have three months of records completed such as outgoing pig treatment records, feed mixing and sequence records, and individual pig treatment records for all pigs beyond the weaning stage. I think it sounds a lot worse than it really is once you get organized and it becomes part of your routine. Unfortunately it's not whether or not you get CQA approved but rather when you get CQA approved. During the past six months the Perth County Pork Producers Association has some new faces attending our tneetinp. Here in Perth County all producers are welcome to attend our meetings. It you are a pork producer with a fax number and would like to attend our meetings we will fax you the agenda of our next upcoming meetings. All you have to do is,call our Secretary Ken Aitcheson at 393-5394 and Ken will put you on our fax list. If you do not have a fax number then we will try to mention the next meeting dates and times in The Rural Voice newsletters. Our next meeting is June 2 at the OMAFRA Conference Centre in Stratford at 7:30 p.m.0 - Submitted by John H. Nvenhui.s PERTH COUNTY PORK PRODUCERS' PORK PRODUCTS • Smoked Pork Chops • Fresh Pork Chops • Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage • Smoked Cheddar Sausage • Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks • Vittorio's BBQ Sauce AVAILABLE FROM: Fred de Martines (Sebr.) 393-6812 Martin van Bakel (Dublin) 345-2666 Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000 Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836 MAY 1999 61