Sow cull

Canadian hog producers are keenly interested in meeting with the Canadian Association of Food Banks to discuss a plea that cull sows go towards feeding the needy, says Clare Schlegel of New Hamburg, Ontario, president of the Canadian Pork Council.

Wed love to talk to them about their proposal to see if theres any way it could be done, Schlegel said.

Were compassionate people, he added, willing to help people in need.

In fact, the CPC entertained the possibility of exporting the culled animals as pork for Third World aid, but ran into the World Trade Organization restrictions on subsidized exports, he said.

Thats why the $50-million cull program, announced recently by federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz, calls for the culled animals to either go into the domestic pet food market or be composted on farm.

The program aims to reduce the Canadian breeding herd by 10 per cent in an effort to pull prices for market hogs out of the pit. Losses have been running $40 to $50 per hog for several months with any light rather faint and at the end of a long tunnel.

There are losses because feed costs have risen, largely because of government rules and subsidies pulling corn out of the feed market and into ethanol production, because of the rising value of the Canadian dollar and because of high volumes of North American meat production.

The situation is so grim across the country that there has even been some speculation that the national hog industry might not survive. That gloom is prompted by a surge of retail-ready pork cuts from U.S. plants.

Schlegel said the $50 million for the culling of breeding stock would be deemed an export subsidy if the sows headed to U.S. packing plants, as has been the case for most Canadian cull sows for more than a decade.

The aim is to keep that flow of sows to traditional, normal volumes, he said.

The subsidy is for farmers who empty a barn and keep it empty for at least three years. Its part of a broader program that features increased loans for livestock producers.

A spokesman for the Canadian Association of Food Banks said an effort needs to be made to slaughter the culls in Canada and make the pork available to needy Canadians rather than wasting it as compost or pet food.