Peak Swine Genetics, Inc. (Newsletters

February 2010 , Vol. 13, No. 2
PEAK OF PERFORMANCE NEWS

General Manager Comments

Banff Pork Seminar held January 20-22 still had more than 520 delegates in attendance, even in these economic times. Terrific local and international speakers were able to provide new and interesting information on the pig industry, in both production and marketing.

Loss of producers and sows to our Canadian pork industry are being felt in all quarters. Breeding herds, commercial herds – both large and small – and industry support players are many fewer now than at the beginning of 2009. The herd buyout program has had greater uptake than the loan program offered by the Agriculture and AgriFood Canada. Alberta has lost more than 9000 sows to the buyout program. We hope that sufficient hogs remain so that all slaughterhouses can maintain kill capacity in the coming year.

Demand for hogs that have higher levels of intramuscular fat (IMF or marbling) at packing houses will require breeding companies to make this measurement on their breeding animals. Ultrasonic capability is such that it is now possible to measure the percentage of IMF in the loin of pigs being scanned for backfat and loin depth. Packers have found that pork buyers are more willing to purchase pork with higher levels of marbling so as to enjoy firmer pork cuts, added flavor from fat; firmer texture and therefore more tasty meat cuts.

PEAK Growth Summit

GROWTH in Carcass Excellence::

Boars and gilts probed at Jakubec Farms in December continue to show huge improvement in loin size. Biggest loin probed at 100 kg liveweight on Yorkshire boars was 69.6 mm; on Yorkshire gilts was 73.7 mm and Landrace gilts was 72.1 mm.

Breed

No.

Average Backfat

Loin Depth

Loin Area

Est. Lean Yield

Yorkshire boars
3

9.5 mm

69.1 mm

44.6 sq cm

64.3%

Yorkshire gilts
41

9.2 mm

68.5 mm
47.1 sq cm
64.4%

Landrace boars
1
8.4 mm
66.4 mm
43.7 sq cm
64.7%

Landrace gilts
15
9.5mm
68.7 mm
47.1 sq cm
64.3%

Peak Customers

Welcome to Shamrock Colony on its purchase of purebred gilts and boars for in-house Multiplication. Thank you every one of our customers for your breeding stock purchases. We very much appreciate you choosing PEAK Swine Genetics as your breeding stock source.

PEAK BookOf World Records

Roseglen Colony has been able to market over 11,000 hogs in 2009 to average 18.7 mm backfat at a carcass weight of 91.9 kg. With a live weight of 115.5 kg, the dressing percentage is 79.6% in the Lethbridge skinning plant. Market index and loin depth measure at the plant average.

Milford Colony shows two Summit sows with powerful performance in the herd over a long time:

Sow

7806

8368

Parities
12

10

Ave born live
13.5

12.8

Ave weaned
11.8

11.5

Wean wt., kg
8.9

9.7

Average litter size weaned for the herd is 11.4 pigs.

Canadian Sow Productivity Summary (2008)

From Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement 2009 Annual Report

Yorkshire

Parity

Number of herds

Average total born

Average born alive

1
85

12.1

10.6

2
80

12.7

11.3

3
78

13.5

12.1

4
77

13.7

12.0

5
72

13.6

11.8

6
71

13.4

11.4

7
69

12.9

11.1

All
89

12.9

11.3

Landrace

Parity

Number of herds

Average total born

Average born alive

1
69

11.5

10.5

2
66

11.5

10.7

3
66

12.5

11.5

4
64

12.4

11.3

5
62

12.2

11.1

6
57

11.7

10.7

7
55

11.3

10.1

All
71

11.8

10.9

Duroc

Parity

Number of herds

Average total born

Average born alive

1
45

9.5

8.4

2
44

9.9

8.9

3
38

10.7

9.5

4
34

10.5

9.2

5
22

10.2

8.4

6
22

10.5

9.3

7
11

10.4

9.1

All
47

10.0

8.8

The reports shown in the adjoining column show the average litter size for swine breeds tested in the CCSI Program across Canada.

The Yorkshire breed has an advantage to litter size born over Landrace because of the influence of genetics imported into Canada from France.

The Duroc breed has been selected as a sire line and so the emphasis has been on performance and carcass quality rather than productivity. Few herds are breeding Duroc – and only to provide boars as terminal sires.

Litter size increases by parity up to the 4th or 5th, with declines as the sows get older. However, it appears that older sows still produce more live piglets than do gilt litters.

Territory Managers

For more information, contact:

Manager	Territory	Cell Telephone
Les Robinson	Southern & Central Alberta	(250) 833-6196
Paul Klingeman	Pacific Northwest	(509) 989-1347
Art Goelema	Northern Alberta & Saskatchewan	(403) 963-0171

Recent Issues

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