Dr. Murray Pettitt Appointed New CEO of Prairie Swine Centre
The Board of the Centre has announced the appointment of Dr. Murray Pettitt as their new CEO. Murray assumed responsibilities on July 1, 2018 and succeeded Lee Whittington, who retired after 26 years, the last 
10 years as President/CEO. Dr. Pettitt has been part of the swine research community for the past 21 years, and was previously employed at Prairie Swine Centre (PSC) for 10 years, managing Contract Research from 2003-2009. During that time he grew the program’s size and capabilities, while being responsible for the business development as well as the design and implementation of customer-driven research.
“It is like coming home – to be able to return to the Centre after 9 years pursuing my research interests in my area of specialization” notes Murray. “The position of CEO will allow me to further my interests in bringing science to agriculture, and adding to the long, successful history of Prairie Swine Centre’s service to the pork industry”. •
Hypor Building for the Future
With Hypors’ continued growth in the Americas and around the world, we are enlarging our global nucleus population and reinvesting in our production assets.
As part of this process, Hypor is proud to announce the start of a rebuilding process for the Bon Accord nucleus facility in Ituna, Saskatchewan, Canada. This facility will be a state of the art, 1200 sow, farrow to finish, GGP nucleus facility for the Hypor Dam Line program. This ultra-modern facility will allow us to continue to collect all the current trait information for the Hypor breeding program, automate more processes and give us greater capacity to develop new traits for continuous improvement. The unit will be equipped with the latest innovations in housing and automatic data recording equipment to capture individual feed and performance records, automatic sow weighing and heat detection and recording of individual lactation feed intake, to name just a few. As always, Hypor is investing in the latest and best technology, and our clients will reap the rewards.
This project follows the recent renovations of our nucleus facilities in France and is the next project in Hypors’ Vision 2020, which is focused on a complete renewal of our nucleus assets. Following the completion of the Bon Accord rebuilding initiative, we will undertake similar projects in Spain, the United States and again in Canada. It’s all part of our dynamic Vision 2020 program that will continue to unfold in the next few years. •
Alltech Founder Dr. Pearse Lyons to Posthumously Receive Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Lifetime Achievement
Dr. Pearse Lyons, founder of Alltech, will posthumously receive the prestigious Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Award for Lifetime Achievement during the sixth annual Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards, held in September at the Omni Louisville Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards were created in 2013 to publicly celebrate the greatness of people from around the world. The award recognizes individuals who are driven to become agents of change for the common good.
Dr. Lyons passed away on March 8, 2018. Mrs. Lyons, director of corporate image and design at Alltech, and their son, Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, will accept the award on his behalf during the ceremony. •
Wheatland Colony Open House
Recently Wheatland Colony celebrated in grand style with a open house. After completion of a new feed mill 
and loosing housing barn, hundreds came to see.
The new barn, 680 F-F, will start stocking in two to three weeks, where sows will be able to navigate through the loose housing Nedap/Velos system. The farrowing room has been stocked with Gestal solo feeders.
Looking for full completion by next August, to be stocked with Fast Genetics F1 females and Grandparents stock for in-house replacement gilts. Congratulations to Sam and Peter and the rest of Wheatland Colony. •
Thanks Teena Klein, of Western Ag Systems for sharing some pictures.
Remembering Dean
Thoughts and prayers of support and comfort continue to Prairie Hog Countrys’ beloved contributer Brenda Kossowan, who recently lost her husband Dean. His long painful battle with MS came to a close in early August. No more pain no more suffering. Although I never met Dean personally, through the stories that Brenda shared he certainly sounded like quite the character with a robust personality. •
