The Rural Voice, 2005-03, Page 57PERTH Mk
County Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
This is your organization
Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers'
Association.
The Perth County Pork Producers
Association held their monthly
director's meeting and District 4
meeting on Wednesday, February 9,
2005 at the Perth Ag Center in
Rostock.
On the agenda was a discussion on
marketing with guest speaker Andy
Marks from Ontario Pork, Canadian
Quality Assurance and Truckers
Quality Assurance with speaker
Christine Ritter from Ontario Pork as
well as our monthly board report
from district director and current
chairman of Ontario Pork, Larry
Skinner. Executive and District
Elections were also on the agenda as
well as discussion and planning for
the Ontario Pork Annual Meeting to
be held on March 16-17, 2005 at the
Doubletree International Plaza Hotel,
Toronto.
To begin, I would like to
congratulate the following people
(and their spouses) who have been
elected to the executive.
• Larry Skinner (Nancy)
District Director 291-4870
• Clare Schlegel (Catherine)
Zone Director 655-2750
• Russ Danbrook (Judy)
President 356-2385
• Phil Anwender (Eleanor)
First Vice -President 271-7055
• Rob Nyenhuis
Second Vice -President 393-8085
• Bert Groenestege (Sylvia)
Treasurer 595-4635
• Jim Van Herk (Fern)
Secretary 595-4863
These are the people who will
spend countless hours organizing and
planning and performing countless
activities on behalf of the pork
producers of Perth County and our
organization. Not only do these
people have full-time farming careers
and families, they take on the
extensive responsibilities, endless
phone calls etc. that are required by
this additional job. On behalf of all
pork producers in Perth County, I
would like to say thank -you and keep
up the good work.
At the monthly meeting, Andy
Marks, Marketing Manager at
Ontario Pork spoke about the trials
and tribulations of marketing hogs in
Ontario and beyond. Ontario is region
that currently exports 15,000 —
25,000 market hogs a week out of
province. Some of these hogs go to
plants in Quebec while others cross
the border into the United States.
Andy stressed the importance of good
packer relationships — knowing what
the packer wants and tailoring the
pigs to fit the plant. He spoke of the
importance of CQA as well as TQA
(trucker quality assurance). In one
particular case when trying to move
hogs to a packer to whom the board
had not sold hogs to before. the first
question asked was "are your
transporters TQA". The answer
was "yes" and our foot was in the
door.
Andy also seemed concerned
about hog logistics. In particular. he
was concerned about knowing when
hogs were coming to market.
Currently. producers are required to
Russ Danbrook, President
519-356-2385
• The Rural Voice is provided to Perth
County Pork Producers by the PCPPA.
book hogs with truckers and packers:
however it seems that this system
needs a great deal of improvement.
No doubt. this will be a topic of
future discussion.
As 1 mentioned earlier, March 16-
17 is the Ontario Pork Annual
Meeting. This is your meeting. This
is the time when we, the elected
councillors (30 plus three alternates)
travel to Toronto to meet with the
board executive to learn more about
our industry. as well as hold the
board accountable for their actions
and furthermore give direction for
future planning. At this point. Perth
County has submitted five resolutions
to the board to be discussed at the
annual meeting.
On Wednesday. March 9. 2005
Perth County will having their
monthly meeting at 7:30 p.m. at the
Perth Ag Center. Rostock. All
producers are welcome at these
meetings. This month, we will be
discussing the resolutions that are
being put forward as well as any new
ones. If you as a producer have any
concerns or issues please feel free to
join us, or please call your
executive.0
— Submitted by David Vandewalle
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:
Steve Hulshof (Kinkora) 348-8167
Walter Bosch (Monkton) 356-9000
Ted Keller (Mitchell) 348-9836 J
MARCH 2005 53