The Rural Voice, 2006-06, Page 24® BURNSIDE
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20 THE RURAL VOICE
150 feet than to blow it in eight
seconds."
The third site is the old Thames
Bend AI unit at Tavistock which they
took over the management of two
years ago in September, a
relationship which has been very
good, Gingerich says, helping OSI
spread risk by having another site
with 135 boar spaces isolated from
the main barns.
As well as the three major
breeds, OSI has a few
Pietrains. And, the eternal
search to a genetic edge has led OSI
into a baby step in a totally different
direction: the purchase of a single
Berkshire boar to join the 423 -boar
stud. "We're not wasting a whole lot
of resources," Gingerich says.
"But boy -oh -boy it's interesting.
Eight or 12 months ago people
started asking 'Can I get Berkshire?'
or 'Do you know where I could?' Or
'I'm kind of interested in finding out
more'. Then that grows to the next
stage of 'Well, I have some now but I
need to get some semen or to be
more diligent in genetics.' And the
whole thing just ramped up, probably
in the last six, eight, 10 months, from
the point where we kind of laughed at
it a year and a half ago."
He recalls a heritage breed
meeting in Stratford earlier this year
that opened his eyes. "There were
probably 40 or 50 people at the
meeting. "It specifically centred
around the Berkshire breed." Ontario
Pork's Bill Collyer and chef Bruce
Thompson showed responses from
high-end chefs about their interest in
using Berkshire pork.
"If there's a demand, people will
produce it. They're wanting yo
position this to a $45 -plate high end
restaurant: Berkshire pedigreed,
naturally raised.
"It's a fatter carcass. It's a slower
growing carcass. It's a different
critter. When we look at genetic
selection, it's a dinosaur, but there's
a demand for that.
"The interesting part is in the U.S.
they've taken a Duroc and crossed it
to a Berkshire and used that resulting
offspring as some of their terminal
lines for meat quality. The question
is, does it need to be 100 per cent
Berkshire? Will a 50 per cent
influence on the terminal side have
enough of a meat quality and eating
experience improvement? We don't