Saskatchewan offers a unique combination of low cost of production, expansive land base, expanding global market opportunity, excellent animal production and management systems, and a strong industry infrastructure and support sector. These factors combine to create the Saskatchewan Pork Industry Opportunity. The momentum for change and growth has begun. Saskatchewan is playing a prominent role in the new global pork industry.

Farm Production Systems

Pig production systems are organized and operated under several different approaches, organizations and production systems. These include independent farrow to finish, farrow to wean, and growfinish production systems.

Farrow To Finish Operations

These systems currently produce about 80% to 90% of the pork in Saskatchewan. Pigs are raised from conception through to a market weight that ranges from 75 kg. to 90 kg. dressed weight or 95 kg. to 114 kg. live weight. Most of the systems are entirely indoor units with liquid manure systems and a square footage allowance of 105 to 120 square feet per sow housed. Cost of building these systems range from $3,500 to $4,000 per sow if a conventional indoor design is used. Some strawbased systems are utilized but mostly for the breeding herd and farrowing sections.

Farrow To Wean Operations

The "conventional" farrow to wean systems produce pigs from conception through to approximately 21 kg. to 23 kg. While a number of producers have started operations by first producing weanling pigs most have moved to farrow to finish structures as soon as they are able to finance a change. This historical trend is the result of the potential for much greater returns in the farrow to finish structure due to several factors. One of these is that there is no industry wide pricing system for weanling pigs that provides an adequate return to the weanling producer over time. Another is that many traditional pork production units were part of a mixed farming operation. The switch to farrow to finish operations allowed them to make better use out of their homegrown feed resources and to decrease their feed costs to competitive levels.

We are currently seeing a resurgence of more "split" units due to new production pressures such as larger production facilities and the higher capitalization associated with them, different ownership structures and, in some cases, biosecurity concerns. This trend is already apparent in the Manitoba pork industry where corporate feed companies have been responsible for driving much of the expansion.

Cost of building these systems is approximately $2,000 to $2,300 per sow place if a conventional indoor design is used. Square footage required is about 65 to 70 square feet per sow.

Finishing Operations

Separate growfinishing operations are a small but growing production system in the Saskatchewan industry. Historically, many grain producers had finishing units which they used to either market excess feed grain or to provide additional cash flow to their farm. The pigs were purchased either through the auction system or through the small farrow to wean units mentioned above. Increasingly, the supply of pigs through the traditional systems is drying up and those interested in continuing with finishing pigs must look at networking with a larger organization or group of people in order to source their weanling supply. A number of these traditional producers are moving to a system where they will take entire batches of pigs (all in-all out) from a larger weanling production system where they might be connected to the larger system through a contract arrangement, or as a partner, or in some cases as a contract employee. In addition to these smaller units we are also seeing the emergence of new, large finisher operations that employ 1 or more employees full time and are part of a larger system in some way.

Cost of building these systems is about $225 to $250 per pig place in a conventional liquid manure indoor system. Space allowance per pig varies from 7.5 to 10 square feet per pig depending on whether the facility is built all in-all out or whether it has continuous flow.

Multiple Site, Networked Production Systems

The multiple site production system is an emerging technology in the United States and Canada that is used primarily to decrease risk due to disease. The bulk of these systems are using segregated early wean technology where the piglets are weaned between 10 and 18 days and transferred to a separate nursery site(s) and then again to a separate finisher site(s). Organizational structures of this multisite system vary from central control and ownership to separate control and ownership at each site. The several systems that are currently being set up in Saskatchewan are centrally controlled.

Cost of construction of these facilities is greater due to the separate infrastructure needed at each site. Operating costs are also higher because of greater transportation requirements, the need for more employees to service each site, etc. Those putting up the units are convinced that the growth boost provided by moving pigs offsite as well as the potential reduction in risk offered by separate site production will offset the other increases in cost.

Statistics on this subject are available.