The Rural Voice, 1992-06, Page 28the arrival of
computers provided
so much more
detailed information
on animals, allowing
breeders to check the
results of breeding
selections and breed
only for the desired
traits. Far more
animals could be
tracked in the process.
The Steins changed
their computer system
three times in the '80s
taking advantage of
new possibilities.
The focus of
genetic development
in the past few years
has been on raising
leaner, faster growing pigs but now
attention is turning to selecting for
muscle mass. The Steins have been
taking part in an Ontario study that
will take in live evaluation and
carcass evaluation looking at results
both by breed and by sex. The test
will also take taste test results into
account, testing the quality of the
quantity, Stein says. "We don't want
to take the industry down the wrong
road," he says of the possibility of
breeding "superior" hogs that don't
have the taste consumcrs want.
"We're sitting at the point where
carcass work (information available
from carcass measurement) is at the
embryonic stage," he says. "Five
years down the line there will be
dramatic changes."
Those changes will bring
efficiencies for producers. "It takes a
lot Tess feed to produce a pound of
lean than a pound of fat."
DNA research will likely mean
that the gene that produces stress in
hogs, one of the worst problems
producers face, can be eliminated in
base stock, reducing the sudden death
loss in shipping and
improving quality of the
meat.
The company is getting
back into Artificial
Insemination (Al). The
Steins had been involved in
AI in the early 1970s but got out of it.
They've just completed an AI unit
and will be back in production of
semen soon. With a lot of out -of -
country demand for their genetics,
Warren says, they had to find some
Marlow Gingerich uses ultra -sound
video and a computer to measure
backfat and muscle in live pigs.
cheaper way of exporting to distant
markets than shipments of live
animals. That will allow nucleus
groups to be set up in other countries
and their progeny to be marketed
there.
But the possibilities of AI in his
own operation has Stein excited
enough that he wonders why they
didn't do it five years ago. He can see
semen from outstanding lines frozen
and used to keep the line alive after
the sire is dead. Recently they had
some offspring born from semen
frozen in 1975 thanks to a special
process of insemminating the sow,
performed by a specialist from the
U.S.
Warren Stein can see an exciting
future where semen from outstanding
sires can be put "on the shelf" where
a library tape of the qualities of the
sire can be kept on file, and when a
breeding program needs the special
qualities of that sire, the semen can
another 10 years."
When Thames
Bend celebrated
its 25th anni-
versary last
spring with an
event attended
by six Members
of Parliament,
including the
Deputy Prime
Minister it show-
ed how far the
Stein brothers
had come in
farming. It had
all started almost
by accident.
Although the
Stein family had
been at the Thames Bend Farm
location since 1856, after their arrival
from Germany in 1847, there was
doubt about the family's future on the
land after Warren's father died of a
heart attack in 1960. Warren was a 17
year year old high school student at
the time. While he continued his high
school year his mother and
grandfather kept the farm going.
After school ended, Warren decided
to take over the family farm. Richard,
who was 12 at the time, later joined
him in the operation.
They carried on a mixed farming
operation with everything from cattle
to pigs to chickens to pheasants. They
tiled the land on the farm and by
1966 were trying to decide just what
the focus of their farm should be.
Early in 1966 a neighbour, Fred
Stock, put his Hillstead SPF certified
Yorkshire herd up for sale, actually
booking an auction at the Stratford
Fair Grounds. Before the sale could
take place, the Stein brothers decided
to buy out the 40 sows and all the
breeding stock of the farm. They got
out of milk, beef and all their other
pigs and started a purebred
breeding program. In 1969
they added Hampshires and
Durocs and in the mid '70s,
Landraces. Today those
pure lines provide the basis
for a wide range of cross
Al
brings the possibility of being able
to bring back genetic giants
24 THE RURAL VOICE
be used to improve a new line.
This year and last year it's like
you've stepped into a new world in
genetics, he says. "There's enough
happening to keep you interested for
breeds.
Thames Bend Farms Ltd. today
employs five or six family members
plus 15-16 other employees. There
are 12 different farms in the
Tavistock area used for cropping with