9 06, 2016

Pork Chops

Porkapalooza

Alberta Pork is happy to be the title sponsor for the 3rd instalment of Porkapalooza. This year the festival weekend is expanding to encompass a concert series.

What is Porkapalooza you might ask ?  Porkapalooza BBQ Festival is a FREE community event organized by Alberta Pork, Passion for Pork (the domestic marketing arm of Alberta

9 06, 2016

Genetically Engineered Crops the Most Precise Method to Develop New VarietiesRobert Wager is a faculty member, Biology Department, Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo BC. His training is in biochemistry and molecular biology, but is an independent scientist with zero financial connection to the biotechnology industry. Wager’s focus is on genetically engineered research, also educating the public giving many talks, writing articles that explain different aspects of Genetically Engineered (GE) technology. In a recent interview Wager says GE crops are crops where scientists have changed certain traits by moving in DNA from other sources. These crops are very popular with farmers and today over 90 per cent of corn, cotton, soybeans, sugar beets are planted with GE crop varieties in North America, not to mention canola. His message to farmers is to actually stand up and speak directly and supporting what they do. “Farmers would not plant these crops in the acreages that they do unless they believe these crops benefit the environment, and the farmer’s’ bottom line,” he said. “In both these cases, economic and environmental benefits are both well documented for these crops.” What about all the negativity that we’re hearing? Wager says the vast majority of that comes from people who are scared, because they’ve read false information on the internet. Often this false information is put forward by people who are trying to sell alternative products. But it isn’t only coming from those people, is it? “No it’s not,” he said. “Some people have ideological reasons against this type of technology but the reality is agriculture is by definition the manipulation of the DNA of plants and animals to suit our needs. That is what agriculture is. GE technology is just the latest technique and by far the most precise method we’ve ever use to change the DNA of our foods.” Some years ago, scientists even changed insulin from what it was before, to where today it isn’t nearly as allergic to people needing it to give them a normal life. Virtually all the insulin that is on the market now is a genetic engineered product. “They took the human gene for insulin and now grow it up in microorganisms,” said Wager. “In the past we had to isolate the insulin from the pancreas of cows or pigs so there were many issues with cross-reactivity when you are injecting proteins from another species into humans. So now we use just the human protein that is grown up in microorganisms.” What can farmers do because so often they get the short end of the stick? If farmers kept listening and absorbing all that negativity, they would really get concerned about they’re growing. At the same they also often find it difficult to take a stand and speak out. “Farmers traditionally have always worried about farming and are very good at it,” he said. “Canadian farmers are some of the most productive farmers in the entire world. They have concentrated on how to produce the best quality food, and the highest yields, and with the least amount of environmental impact. GE crops have helped in that respect. However today there are large amounts of money being spent to try and convince people GE crops technology is not​in fact good, but bad. We’re talking billions of dollars, which here does buy much influence.” Wager says farmers are finding themselves facing a backlash of people who think they know what the technology is about and farmers are not quite sure how to deal with it. In the past the average person did not care about primary food production, all they cared about was price and quality at the Supermarket. Today people are more interested in how food is actually produced at the primary level. So farmers are faced with questions that they’ve never had to really think about in the past “I would argue farmers know this technology better than anybody because they have used it for 20 years,” he said. “What farmers need to do is tell the public or whoever comes asking questions exactly what they do and why they do it. They don’t need to get into the science because that is debated at another level, they need to talk to the public about why they plant a GE crop in a field and how it has changed the way they farm compared to previous years when these options were not available.” How did Robert Wager get to the point of being so in favour of GE crops? “My training is in the sciences, molecular biology and biochemistry and teaching these techniques to students at the university level for 20 years now,” he says. “When I first started looking into GE crops around 2,000, it was clear most of the information on the net was false and misleading, designed to generate fear, not to educate. So I began a public education program for myself, my area of research, trying to explain the science and the context of this science with respect to all agriculture to the public. Sort of demystify the science and remove the jargon.” • — By Harry Siemens

Robert Wager is a faculty member, Biology Department, Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo BC.

His training is in biochemistry and molecular biology, but is an independent scientist with zero financial connection to the biotechnology industry.

Wager’s focus is on genetically engineered research, also educating the public giving many talks, writing articles that explain different aspects of

9 06, 2016

UK Toughs it Out

Currently UK producers are losing £16 per pig, although UK pig prices are very slowly increasing from a low of 117p/kg. This is a much different story from two years ago when producers were enjoying prices around 164p/kg. But this is typical of the pig cycle – highs followed by lows.

Richard Bull of Taurus

9 06, 2016

On The Edge With Siemens Says

Let’s use objective scientists determine where to place new hog barns

First off, lots of moisture for the time being to get all crops going, and even some that farmers reseeded or will need to, either because of frost, drought, can you believe it, and now all in the same swoop, because of drowned out

9 06, 2016

Following Guidelines – Ractopamine Free Pork

Alberta Pork is asking producers in the Canadian Quality Assurance program to be especially vigilant during the transition to raising and shipping ractopamine-free pork.

Executive director Darcy Fitzgerald addressed producers during a regional meeting in Red Deer recently, stating that they risk losing their ability to ship to federally-inspected processors if they don’t pass muster,

9 06, 2016

Wild Boars Causing Concern

Feral wild boar are becoming a concern for wildlife management across Canada.

That was the message from Ryan Brook who spoke at the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation Convention held in Yorkton this spring. But to undertake management and control you need to have an understanding of the extent of the problem, and that is what the

  • Fehrway Feeds building
9 06, 2016

Fehrway Feeds of Winkler Moves to Bigger and Better FacilitiesFehrway Feeds has been a key provider for local farms in southern Manitoba for almost 20 years, especially to the smaller backyard farms, but not to minimize the business they do for larger hog and cattle farms. With three locations to serve the livestock industry, a store and their main feed mill in Hasket, only a mile from the North Dakota border, a new store in Ridgeville, and a recent move to a much larger facility in Winkler, MB gives this family owned business a leg-up. Fehrway Feeds has formulated quality feed for livestock since 1995. “Our vision is to provide local farmers, large and small, with a high quality, yet affordable, feed,” said the company website. “All of our feed begin with grain from local farmers. The feed is manufactured on site at our feed mill located 13 miles south of Winkler on Hwy#32. Fehrway Feeds’ recipes have stood the test of time and have been carefully formulated with animal nutrition at the foremost.” It is an interesting story going back to 1988, a severe drought year, when Dave and Nancy Fehr got married and purchased an old homestead with an outdated and well-used seed/feed mill elevator on it, (many years earlier known as CC Reimer’s Haskett Feed Mill), still in operation today. Dave started mixing his own hog feed because he could do it inside the old feed mill on their property, which was better than working outside in the cold with his mix-mill in the Village of Rosengart where he owned and operated his hog farm. Soon friends and neighbors started requesting feed for their animals. As the livestock industry grew, so did the demand for feed. In 1995, he purchased a ’75 International truck and feed box and started delivering the product. The next year, they officially registered the name “Fehrway Feeds & Livestock Equipment”. Dave and Nancy never envisioned being the owners of a feed mill as it has become today. Besides the feed mill operation, Fehrway Feeds expanded with a retail store, on site, in 2004. Only five years later, the continued demand for convenience and ongoing commitment to customer service, Fehrway Feeds seized the opportunity to expand once again. It opened its doors to a second retail store in 2009 in the City of Winkler. And, in May of 2015, another store was purchased … this time in the Town of Ridgeville, Manitoba (formerly known as Ridgeville Lumber & Hardware). Fehrway was thrilled to open its third retail store and serve their customers out east. Dennis Rempel, who oversees the operation in Winkler says Fehrway Feeds has grown substantially in the last four or five years. — continued on page 31 — continued from page 29 “We’ve grown lots in the last four or five years and always looking to expand so we can give the customers what they are asking for,” said Rempel. “By doing that, you need to get bigger and you need to get better. We sell an awful lot of feed and cattle supplies, tagging products, chick feeders, waterers, anything and everything to do with livestock is what we try to take care of.” The current move and expansion was long overdue. A move that saw them stay on the same street, just a few businesses over to the south. “We were compounding at the previous location, piling things onto other things, and it kind of gets in the way and becomes cluttered because we’re getting too small,” he said. “We try to base our stock and products and what we bring in, on what customers are asking for. So, when a customer asks for a specific product we bring more of that in and see if it will move or not. And if it doesn’t, we get rid of it and then we look at other avenues.” When asked if they serve the entire livestock industry, Rempel says they have a lot of smaller producers. “We have a lot of people, we call them backyard farmers, where they raise their own chickens, might have a dairy cow or two, have a few animals for themselves at home, as well as some bigger farmers,” he said. “We sell a lot of oil, barrels, totes, or bulk, selling a number of common brand name oils, oil stabilizers, fuel conditioners lubricants grease and sprays.” When it comes to pigs, again a lot of back yard folks that have five or ten pigs, but by and large, it is mostly the people that have four or, five, or six animals and get together with family and friends, in November to slaughter those animals to fill their freezers for the coming year. “We do supply some larger hog and cattle farmers and their feed trucks basically go non-stop,” said Rempel. “However, it’s an area we’d like to get into, and we hired a well-known livestock supplies and equipment salesperson, Jake Klassen to help us with that expansion.” They employ a staff of 16 to 18 people. In the future, Rempel would love to see the business outgrow the new place, or even expand it, and get bigger and better. “With this new location, we have a huge parking lot, which hindered us at the other place,” he said. “Here you can come in and do donuts and never worry about hitting someone else, thus enabling us to bring in many more items like corral panels, and freestanding panels, windbreaks, and all the bale feeders, railway ties, and fence posts.” • — By Harry Siemens

Fehrway Feeds has been a key provider for local farms in southern Manitoba for almost 20 years, especially to the smaller backyard farms, but not to minimize the business they do for larger hog and cattle farms.

With three locations to serve the livestock industry, a store and their main feed mill in Hasket, only

9 06, 2016

Staying on the Edge of Biosecurity Drives Steve’s Livestock Transport

With another case of PEDv in Manitoba and the federal government not willing to listen to the hog industry about the need for heightened biosecurity as it pertains to washing trailers coming back from the United States, company, farm, and personal biosecurity becomes even more important.

Rick Peters, the Vice President Operations with Steve’s Livestock

  • 05.30.16. Scott Dick sign
  • Manure applicator - 1
9 06, 2016

Proving Daily Manure Has More and More Value as a Nutrient

Scott Dick, a partner in Agra-Gold Consulting of Landmark, MB named as one of two 2016 Manitoba Pork Pork Industry Award winners recently is a strong believer that manure is more valuable than regular synthetic fertilizer because there’s a lot more to manure that helps improve soil health.

“The product that we add back into

9 06, 2016

Renovating Hog Barns Can Cost One Million Dollars

At the recent AGM of the Manitoba Pork Council much discussion centered on where is the hog industry going and how.

Mike Teillet, the manager of sustainable development with Manitoba Pork says they’re received the first applications under a pilot project that will allow the construction of new hog barns in Manitoba.

Going back to April