In opening remarks, chair Rick Préjet said 2025 had been marked by “uncertainty, successes and optimism,” while highlighting the importance of export markets.

Those themes carried through panel discussions led by general manager Cam Dahl, who said Manitoba is particularly exposed because of its dependence on export markets.

“Trade really has become a key focus for Manitoba Pork,” he said, noting about 90 per cent of Manitoba production is exported either as live animals or pork products.

The discussion also swirled around tariffs and the increasingly protectionist tone of global trade. Canadian Pork Council executive director Steven Heckbert noted voluntary country-of-origin labelling (vCOOL) was introduced by Democrats, adding that both major U.S. parties have been moving in the same direction.

“We’re fighting a headwind of increased protectionism,” he said.

Trade concerns were also explored in a one-on-one discussion with Manitoba’s senior representative to the U.S., Richard Madan, who said that despite the rhetoric, there is still broad bipartisan support for smooth trade relations in agricultural states.

“Republicans, Democrats and stakeholders all understand the importance of integrated supply chains, and how Canada is part of a strong food supply system,” he said.

Biosecurity concerns also remain front and centre

Biosecurity was the other major focus. Speakers pointed to African swine fever preparedness, ongoing PED control efforts, wild pig eradication and the continued risk posed by senecavirus A. Recent low disease levels in Manitoba were attributed to stronger biosecurity, surveillance and coordination across the sector.

Dahl said protecting the sector depends in part on decisions made at the farm level.

“Don’t ship sick animals,” he said. “It’s not just your farm that you put at risk. It’s the entire Manitoba pork sector.”

The meeting also included discussion of Manitoba Pork’s public outreach and right-to-farm efforts. On the governance side, Margaret Rempel retired as board member at large and was replaced by Harv Toews.

Full coverage of the Manitoba Pork AGM will appear in the next edition of the Manitoba Co-operator.

The post Tariffs, biosecurity lead discussion at Manitoba Pork AGM appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

The disease has been a problem since the 1960s, but scientists had no idea how to control it, said Matheus de Oliviera Costa, an associate professor with the University of Saskatchewan’s Western College of Veterinary Medicine and an expert in swine health.

After years of research, Costa and his team have discovered new information about pig ear necrosis and how to control it.

WHY IT MATTERS: Learning more about the specific causes of a painful livestock ailment is the necessary first step toward treatment and control.

Through clinical research at the U of S, Costa and his team identified a source for the disease — a common bacteria called Fusobacterium necrophorum, found in the mouth and gastrointestinal tract of many mammals, including humans.

Pig ear necrosis occurs when bacteria is transferred via saliva through biting or chewing ears.

The disease leads to tissue death on the ear, said Costa. It looks terrible as parts of the animal’s ear rot away.

“It’s usually exploited by animal activists as a cause of mutilation in commercial farms, which in severe cases, yes, they become mutilated by disease, but not due to neglect or anything,” he said.

‘Multifactorial’

Since the early years of the disease, there has been a long list of suggested causes, ranging from mycotoxins to ventilations to other infectious agents, including PCV2 and porcine circovirus, which can target the lymphoid tissues and lead to immune suppression.

“It’s always been kind of a guess, and I think that’s why we call it a multifactorial disease. We didn’t know what caused it,” he said.

To combat the disease, veterinarians told their clients to check ventilation protocols and improve hygiene and health in the hog barns.

Sometimes the disease would disappear, and other times it would not.

Pig ear necrosis compromises the pigs and slows down their growth and meat production.

“Animals will grow slower than they normally would. They are more susceptible to diseases. They have an open wound,” he said.

Sometimes these wounds can lead to abscesses that can lead to further complications.

Bully pigs

Through their research, Costa and his team found pig ear necrosis is caused by a flesh-eating bacteria that destroys the tissue of the ear, which dies and falls off.

“It’s not something that happens overnight. It takes days for a piece of tissue to die like that,” said Costa.

Humans who have had necrosis describe even a small wound as excruciatingly painful, so it is likely extremely painful for pigs as well.

The disease usually shows up in nursery pigs. The lesions develop a couple of weeks out of the nursery stage, and by the time the pigs are grower-finishers, they will have severe presentation and will be missing parts of the ear.

The disease does not spread beyond the ears.

“For you to see the disease, first you need to have a lesion in the ear, and that’s usually just pig biting. With pigs in a pen, there’s usually a bully pig. The bully pig will run around chewing on ears,” he said.

The research team doesn’t have the evidence to support this, but they suspect if a pig bites another pig’s ear, they can inject the bacteria into the pen mates’ ears that can lead to necrosis.

Fusobacterium necrophorum is so prevalent in pigs that removing it completely would not be possible.

As part of their research, the research team travelled to farms and talked to producers and veterinarians about pig ear necrosis. They collected samples from pigs in barns with ear necrosis and used DNA sequencing to find out what was causing the necrosis.

“That essentially resulted in a list of potential causes, and we developed a model to attempt to recreate the disease,” said Costa.

The team tried multiple causes until they found Fusobacterium necrophorum. The bacteria cannot be eliminated because it is so prevalent.

Patent pending

Before they even identified the bacteria responsible for pig ear necrosis, the research team had developed a vaccine to immunize pigs against the pathogen. The vaccine is still considered a “research vaccine,” so it is not licensed and has not been approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. However, a patent has been filed.

“It still must go through all the steps, but this vaccine candidate has been shown in our research trials under control conditions to reduce the amount of lesions to 50 per cent, so we have 50 per cent fewer pigs develop necrosis compared to our vaccinated pigs,” Costa said.

“And I’m hoping as we progress with this research that we’re going to be able to improve that efficacy number so we see fewer lesions. But moving forward, the vaccine probably means that fewer antibiotics are going to be used. We’re going to have fewer pigs developing ear necrosis, so better welfare for those animals. Hopefully that’s going to be a win for the industry (and society) because we’re going to be reducing the number of cases of animals that may not be perceived as having proper welfare.”

Vaccinating the animals will improve their welfare and reduce the amount of pig necrosis cases.

Producers can try to reduce pig ear necrosis by making sure there is enough enrichment in the pens so ear biting is not as frequent.

The post Scientists discover cause of pig ear necrosis appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Manitoba had its own brush with low water supply in 2021. Drought conditions impacted availability for spraying, livestock, irrigation and human consumption. 

At the time, the Manitoba Co-operator published a story entitled “Drought takes hold over Manitoba’s cattle markets.” The situation posed the following question: “How will this affect the gargantuan hog industry in Manitoba and its huge demands of water consumption?” 

As a matter of fact, water usage estimates in swine production were introduced at the hearings by the Manitoba CEC (Clean Environment Commission) of 2007. Also, a 2001 study by DGH Engineering broke down the estimated water use by type of operation and function at 89.5 litres per sow per day. 

Take the number of Manitoba sows (presently 378,000), multiply by 89.5 and multiply that by 365 to get a rough estimate of the volume of water used per year. 

The water usage figures for hogs are astounding. It works out to 33,831,000 litres a day and a little under 12.35 billion litres a year, enough to fill more than 4,939 Olympic swimming pools. 

The province’s Sustainable Development Act was in place from 1997 through to 2018. With the proper wording of “shall” in place, rather than “should,” the act would have been an extremely helpful source of legislation in regulating the uncontrolled expansion of the hog industry, appropriate care of the environment, addressing human health issues and the social effects of any proposals.

The post Letters: Hog industry gets free ride on water appeared first on Manitoba Co-operator.

Pork producers have been losing money as pig prices and consumer demand have struggled at a time of high costs for labor and other expenses.

Smithfield, owned by Hong Kong’s WH Group 0288.HK, said it will terminate employees who support its dealings with farms that raise hogs under production contracts. Layoffs may total about 70 employees, or up to one third of the 210 workers in Smithfield’s Utah hog production operations.

The contracts are with finishing farms that raise hogs to slaughter weight, Smithfield said in an email to Reuters on Wednesday, adding that it will continue to operate company-owned sow farms in Utah.

Analysts said pork producers need to cut the number of sows, or female pigs used to reproduce, to return to profitability more quickly.

“Our industry and company are experiencing historically challenging hog production market conditions,” Smithfield CEO Shane Smith said in a Tuesday statement.

Smithfield in October said it would shut a pork plant in Charlotte, North Carolina, after previously confirming it would permanently close 35 Missouri hog farm sites. Last year, the company said it would close a California plant and reduce its herd in the Western U.S.

Smithfield needs such cutbacks to remain competitive, Smith said. The company cited an “industry oversupply of pork, weaker consumer demand and high feed prices” as challenges, though futures prices for corn Cv1 used for livestock feed last month fell to their lowest level in nearly three years.

U.S. meat companies also grappled with excess chicken supplies this year, and face dwindling cattle inventories and a law requiring more space for livestock in California.

Tyson Foods TSN.N, the biggest U.S. meat company by sales, has shut chicken plants.

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