| March 2011
,
Vol. 14, No. 3 PEAK OF PERFORMANCE NEWS |
In speaking about the Humane Society of the America (HSUS), Dr. Ron Plain noted that a public response to detractors of the modern pig industry for the 12 million Canadian pigs and 60 million US pigs might include the following list (as a comparison to the human population):
1. Access to clean water, and cleaner water than available for drinking outdoors
2. Few growing pigs are hungry (except limit-fed sows)
3. A nutritious and balanced diet is provided to meet all requirements for growth and development
4. Access to high health and immediate treatment against contracted disease
5. Cushioned from the natural environment
6. Freedom from internal and external parasites.
Of the $80 million in funds taken in by HSUS from the public annually, only about $0.5 million is actually spent on necessary animal care.
GROWTH in Performance Excellence:
Pigs probed at Five Lakes Farms in January 2011 continue to show improvements, especially for fat. Biggest loin for Yorkshire boars is 68.6 mm; Yorkshire gilts at 69.9 mm; Trailblazer boars at 66.2 mm.
|
Breed |
No. |
Average Backfat |
Loin Depth |
Loin Area |
Est. Lean Yield |
| Yorkshire boars | 18 |
9.2 mm |
64.5 mm |
42.5 sq cm | 64.3% |
| Yorkshire gilts | 34 |
9.8 mm |
65.3 mm |
45.3 sq cm | 64.1% |
| Trailblazer boars | 22 |
8.8 mm |
63.4 mm |
42.1 sq cm | 64.5% |
| Lacombe gilts | 2 |
10.6 mm |
63.3 mm |
43.9 sq cm | 63.7% |
Prairie Home Colony has taken PEAK Duroc boars as terminal sires to breed their export market hogs.
Thank you to all our customers for your continued purchases of selected breeding stock, especially high performance replacement boars.
Congratulations to Neu Muehl Colony on being the weekly winner for >175 head of hogs delivered through the Western Hog Exchange in the week of December 28, 2010. Carcasses at 96 kg measured 18.3 mm backfat and 61.5 mm loin depth.
Rockport Colony’s 2nd parity purebred Yorkshire sow in January had 18 live piglets, of which 15 were Summit gilts. These gilts should provide easy selections for herd replacements.
PEAK Book Of World Records
ASPX 5452W standing at ASGC
eFarm Development Program
eFarm will be promoted at Alberta Pork Congress March 16, 17 in Red Deer by both Western Swine Testing Association and PEAK Swine Genetics. New information on reports available to users will be presented for consideration. See us at our booth for some of the new reports.
We continue to have great support from our customers for the eFarm Program offered by Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement (CCSI), Western Swine Testing Association (WSTA) and PEAK Swine Genetics in 2011. Pearl Lavigne and Art Goelema are active with each breeding farm and will provide more services for genetic evaluations and herd performance reporting.
Wim van Berkel in our Western Swine Testing Association is able to provide service in ultrasonic scanning for backfat thickness, loin depth and age calculations on Summit gilts retained in the In-house breeding herds as breeders become more interested in the performance of their breeding gilts – another criterion for retained gilt selections.
We now have support from both OLYMEL and Maple Leaf Foods Lethbridge to forward producer settlement slip results to CCSI for evaluating these market hog results against the genetic improvements in the breeding herds. This PigGrid Program will be of interest to those most anxious to make full use of the fees they pay for participating in the eFarm Program. PigGrid gives the ongoing improvement in commercial herds for the hogs delivered to market.
As we find more criteria in demand from our packinghouses, the program will identify those boars that best benefit our customers at the plant. PEAK Duroc boars will be measured for Intramuscular Fat levels in their loin by Wim Van Berkel in a WSTA research project. These boars now have additional data for selection, to breed Summit gilts to give higher marbling in their market hogs.
| 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 |
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