The Rural Voice, 1993-08, Page 12"Our experience
assures lower cost
water wells"
92 YEARS' EXPERIENCE
Member of Canadian
and Ontario
Water Well Associations
• Farm
• Industrial
• Suburban
• Municipal
Licensed
by the Ministry
of the Environment
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WELL DRILLING LTD.
WINGHAM
Serving Ontario Since 1900
519-357-1960 WINGHAM
519-886-2761 WATERLOO
can -con
WIEEm3
(A division of Steve's Welding)ile
CAN -CON HAS IT ALL
• Rotary Feeders
• Feed Carts
• Flooring - Filter Eeze
- Punched Metal Slats
• Farrowing Crates
• Plumbing Supplies • Gestation Stalls
• Plastic & Stainless Steel Feeders
• Hog and Cattle Penning
• Cattle Bowls • Animal Health Products
• Cow Trainers • Cow Mats
186 119
/ Newry
CAN -CON x
X Newton
Milverton
A division of Steve's Welding
R. R. 1, Newton, Ont. NOK 1R0
519-595-8737
8 THE RURAL VOICE
Robert Mercer
New programs in the pork industry
As I visited the Pork Congress at
Stratford I was amazed to realize that
the Congress has been an annual event
for 20 years. There were a number of
companies with
20 -year plaques,
and I would
expect an even
greater number
who have exhi-
bited and now no
longer exist.
Change in the
supply side of the
industry has been
almost as
dramatic as in the
producer side.
According to
the Census of
1991 there were
9,429 farms with hogs in Ontario.
Twenty years earlier there were 30,626.
Only one-third remain, and of those
9,429 farms, over 4,000 had only be-
tween 1-77 head on the farm. Hog pro-
ducers with 78 head and over numbered
only 5,350 units in 1991. Today at the
Congress, people were talking in terms
of serious producers in Ontario
numbering only in the area of 4,000
farms. That's the extent of the change
taking place at the producer level. At
the other end is the development of an
industry partnership or strategic
alliance set up under the umbrella of
Maple Leaf Foods to integrate produc-
tion into specific characteristics to meet
end user (consumer) needs.
The program, known as Partners in
Pork, is likely only one in a whole new
trend of contracting specialized produc-
tion to meet special processing or con-
sumer needs. The trend will be in live-
stock and crops as well as horticulture
and fruits. In this case the logic is
simple. MLF has all the components of
the marketing and supply chain through
to the consumer except the raw product.
Live hogs. This total agri-food
partnership is not vertical integration as
there will be no ownership of the hogs
by MLF. Also all supplier -processor
contracts must go through the OPPMB.
The program for Partners in Pork is
seen as a team effort with the combined
facilities of MLF giving contractors a
premium in return for specific
production standards in the hog
breeding and feeding business.
MLF owns Fearmans Fresh Meats,
one of the major hog killing and pro-
cessing facilities in Ontario. It owns
Shur -Gain feeds which must be used in
this program to gain the premiums; it
also owns Rothsay Rendering and MTC
Pharmaceuticals. MLF is, in fact,
Canada's largest food processor and
also operates an off -shore division, the
International Trade Division.
For instance, hogs will be evaluated
on size standards of which two are:
must index between 103-108, and
secondly a hot dressed weight of 85 kg
in a range of 75 to 90 kg.
Volume is the key to productivity in
processing plants and Fearmans is
trying to maintain its share of the
shrinking volumes. Partners in Pork
could help that objective.
In the U.S., to the surprise of many,
the June USDA hog inventory report
released at the end of June showed a
contraction in the industry, not an
expansion as had been assumed. U.S.
hog producers were liquidating herds
with the breeding herd down two per
cent rather than up four per cent as had
been expected. The low price of corn
for the last year was expected to be the
incentive for more pork production. It
just didn't happen.
This switch in production outlook
caught the market in an oversold
position and futures markets rose the
limit up and now suggest a more robust
price picture for this fall.
U.S. producers indicated that their
farrowing intentions for June through
November would be the same as in
1992, and this was strengthened by the
report which also indicated that pigs in
lighter weight classes were fewer in
number than those in heavier classes.
With fewer U.S. hogs scheduled for
market it is a whole new ball game and
new programs are an added benefit. A
quality bonus above index incentives is
worth looking at. But remember to
read the fine print and make sure the
feed price is truly competitive. It is no
good being paid a premium for your
quality hogs if you then pay a premium
on the feed bili.0
Robert Mercer is editor of the
Broadwater Market Letter, a weekly
commodity and policy advisory letter
from Goodwood, Ontario LOC IAO.