The Rural Voice, 2006-06, Page 22Aff2MMEMMMMIMECIWAMMOCCOL
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18 THE RURAL VOICE
need to continue to challenge that
genetic base and if it's a swing and a
miss, well that's okay to learn that
and if there are some things there to
grab, then let's do that too."
"There's a price of admission to
find that star," says Vandenbroek of
the perhaps one in ten that will prove
exceptional.
"Our breeders depend on OSI to
do that them," says Vandenbroek.
"They rely on OSI to go and find that
genetic package that's going to
improve our program in the future."
Continued genetic improvement
requires continuing to choose
the best bloodlines but the
danger is that too few sires can play
too large a part in the genetic pool.
That's why deepening the pool by
bringing in the best lines from around
the world helps.
One of the examples of "hitting a
home run" as Gingerich calls it, is
Stewart's Tinsley, a Duroc boar
purchased in 2003 from the U.S.
It was a huge risk, Gingerich says.
"He could have crashed and burned.
He could have ended up being in the
worst five per cent of the population.
He ended up being in the top two per
cent of the population."
"We've got testimonials from
1 people on the commercial level
saying how (Tinsley) increased their
bottom line as far feed conversion,
their gradings at the packer, meat
quality and quantity," Vandenbroek
adds.
"That boar was so far ahead of
himself genetically — probably two,
three, four years at least, maybe
more, as far as natural selection. I
would guess 15 per cent plus of the
Duroc gene base in Canada would go
back to him in the pedigree
somehow."
"Overuse like that can be a
concern but in this case it worked
very well," adds Vandenbroek.
OSI's "bread and butter" is the
average family-oriented farm with
200-500 sows, either farrow -to -finish
or farrow to weaner, says Gingerich.
As well, they have a number of
service contracts with production
loops that might buy a set of boars to
meet the specific genetic guidelines
they seek and place them with OSI
on a monthly service program. It
allows the loop to have its own
specific genetics but have someone
else collect the semen and keep the