Reading Time: < 1 minute If African swine fever ever found its way into wild pigs in Canada, exports of pigs and pork would come to a screeching halt — even if commercial hog farms were totally free of infection. But food inspection agencies in Ottawa and Washington have come up with a plan to “minimize trade impacts while protecting […] Read more
Swine fever containment plan agreed to
Brent Moen stays on as Alberta Pork chair
Reading Time: < 1 minute Brent Moen is continuing on as chair of Alberta Pork. Moen and Craig Thompson were re-elected at the organization’s recent AGM along with new directors Ard Bonthuis and Andy Walter. They join four other board members: vice-chair Stan Vanessen, Martin Waldner, Hendrik Fourie and Marcel Rupert. Alberta pork producers have had a tumultuous year with […] Read more
Some beleaguered hog farmers want production cuts
In another sign of distress, six growers asked Alberta Pork to lead efforts to cut production
Reading Time: 2 minutes Some hog producers are urging Alberta Pork to lead a charge to cut pig production in the province. The unusual request is the latest instalment in an ongoing effort to staunch the flow of red ink in the province’s hog sector. But leading an effort to cut production in a bid to win higher prices […] Read more
Olymel closure due to COVID creates costly backlog for hog producers
Backlog of hogs tops 100,000 and it will take weeks to work through it when plant reopens
Reading Time: 2 minutes Red Deer’s Olymel plant remains closed following three deaths linked to the COVID-19 outbreak at the hog processing facility. The plant closed temporarily but indefinitely on Feb. 16, and as of press time, it remained closed, with more than 500 confirmed COVID cases linked to the facility by Alberta Health Services. That’s more than a […] Read more
Canada’s year-end cattle herd continues shrinking
Slaughter beat pre-pandemic pace in second half, StatsCan says
Year-over-year contraction continued for Canada’s cattle herd at the start of 2021, while newborn piglet counts kept Canada’s hog herd on the rise during the same period, according to Statistics Canada. StatsCan on Monday reported 11.2 million cattle on Canadian farms at Jan, 1, 2021 — down one per cent from the year-earlier date and […] Read more
Canada’s active PED case count dwindling
Affected Manitoba farms now all presumptive-negative
The number of active outbreaks of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) on hog farms in Canada has shrunk to a few in Eastern Canada, with affected sites elsewhere now believed negative for the disease. Manitoba Pork announced Wednesday that the last of the premises to report a PED outbreak in that province in 2020 has now […] Read more
Olymel shipping backlogged hogs to U.S.
Company-owned hogs to go south after COVID closes Red Deer plant
Winnipeg | Reuters — Olymel said Friday it was shipping pigs to the United States to help clear a backlog of hogs after it had to temporarily close its Red Deer, Alta. slaughter plant because of a coronavirus outbreak. Olymel shut the plant on Wednesday and declared force majeure — unforeseeable circumstances that prevent contract […] Read more
Olymel to close Red Deer hog plant against COVID-19
Hog deliveries suspended 'until further notice'
Meat packer Olymel plans to temporarily close its hog slaughter and pork processing plant at Red Deer, Alta., winding down that facility’s operations starting this week against a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak among workers. The plant, one of Canada’s largest by slaughter capacity at over 45,000 hogs per week, has notified its hog suppliers and […] Read more
Pork producers eye an average year — which would mean more losses
Barns are already being shut down, and this exodus will accelerate, says industry veteran
Reading Time: 3 minutes The past year hammered the already struggling hog industry — but is there hope on the horizon for 2021? “I don’t want to be doom and gloom, but I have to say no,” said Brent Bushell, general manager of Western Hog Exchange. “In Western Canada, on average, producers haven’t made money since about 2015. Guys […] Read more
Former F. Menard hog plant upgrading for second shift
Olymel announces $9 million in renovations
Pork and poultry packer Olymel plans to dial up its pork output with a new evening shift at a Quebec hog plant it now owns in the province’s Monteregie. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative Group, said Friday it will invest $9 million in renovations at its slaughter, cutting and deboning plant at […] Read more
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