It was a western Manitoba sweep at this year’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Pork Quality Competition.
Riverside Hutterite Colony of Arden took the top spot for their hog carcass entry, followed by Treesbank Colony near Wawanesa in second and Wellwood Hutterite Colony of Ninette taking third.
WHY IT MATTERS: Brandon’s Royal Manitoba Winter Fair brings out thousands every year, both farmers for events like the pork quality competition, and the general public.
Read Also
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer dies
Mazergroup’s Bob Mazer, who helped grow his family’s company into a string of farm equipment dealerships and the main dealer for New Holland machinery in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, died July 6 from cancer.
The fair, which ran March 31 to April 5 at the Keystone Centre in Brandon, is one of three major fairs put on by the Provincial Exhibition of Manitoba each year.
The pork competition and luncheon, held this year on April 2 at the Dome Building on the Keystone Centre grounds, is a popular draw on the schedule for the province’s pork producers. Results were announced following the luncheon.
“The hog industry in Manitoba has some of the best genetics, best quality pork in the world, so we’re always super excited to showcase it,” said fair chair Wayne Buhr.
Pork carcasses were judged based on metrics like warm carcass weight, fat depth, loin depth, loin yield, loin eye colour, back fat and marbling.
“All these comparisons take place in order to figure out what the best marketable pig is,” Buhr said.
Riverside Colony’s first-place winning carcass was not the heaviest. It weighed in 96.2 kilograms, compared to Treesbank’s, which was 102.97 kg and Wellwood’s at 97.98 kg. But Riverside’s total points across all metrics came in at 94, versus 92 points going to Treesbank and 89 to Wellwood, making it a close competition.
“These gentlemen managed to get this pig to match measurements within millimetres. So, every pig that’s entered into this competition is a winner,” Buhr said.
Like previous years, top-placing entrants chose a charity of their choice to receive half their prize money, while the meat from winning carcasses were donated to Assiniboine College’s culinary arts program. Other meat entered in the competition was processed by East 40 Packers in Brandon and distributed to food banks throughout western Manitoba.
“There’s a lot of meat, fresh meat, that can go to the food banks for the support of families, because there’s a lot of uncertainty, not just with tariffs, but the economy and everything,” Buhr said. “To think that this type of quality goes to food banks to feed the less fortunate is a great thing.”
The competition is also an opportunity for the province’s pork producers to take pride in the hard work they do every day to create quality pork products, said Rick Préjet, chair of the Manitoba Pork Council.
“The pork quality luncheon is an important tradition as part of the Royal Manitoba Winter Fair, where many of our producers are given a chance to showcase their hard work and the high quality, sustainably produced pork raised here in Manitoba,” he said.
The real winners from the event, which was also attended by Premier Wab Kinew and other ministers from the provincial government, are the charities that benefit from it, Préjet said.
