21 The Trusted Source for Canada’s Pork Producers Better Pork | August 2024 What items are on your desk? My laptop is always open and present, along with three or four pens and something to fidget with. Messy or neat? I would say in between. It is organized enough that I can see it, and I know where things are. What’s your favourite thing about working with pigs? I love taking care of animals; that is my passion. I also find it satisfying to produce a healthy protein for the world and empower others to do their work. Our farm is a very positive place where people enjoy coming to work and care about the results. They aren’t just here for a paycheque, and that shows in their performance. The hardest part about farming? The hardest thing for me is the human resources side and dealing with staffing issues. During the pandemic, we often had several employees home sick. They wanted to come to work as they knew they were key to the operation, but we had to follow the letter of the law in terms of isolating. At one point, we had a PEDv (porcine epidemic diarrhea virus) outbreak and only three people present to assist, so that was tough. What do you do to protect your herd’s health? We are stringent on our biosecurity protocols. I start off each week visiting the multiplier site, as that is the highest health location in our group. I then go to the gilt/grower site and finish off at the commercial farm. That way, I start at the top and work my way down. When I begin my visits, I ensure my truck is clean by washing it every week and spraying it down with Lysol. I also wear clean, laundered clothing and booties to the farms, so I’m not tracking anything from place to place. One thing we do that’s novel is to put calcium on the driveways in the spring to prevent dust from coming into the farms, as it can carry PEDv. How do you keep your records? We follow the CPE (Canadian Pork Excellence) program (a national platform that covers three major components of on-farm programs: Traceability, food safety and animal care), and comply with all export requirements. Vaccinations and other procedures are recorded and kept on file in both electronic and paper form. We are part of the Progressive Group, so our prescriptions and veterinary medicines come from them. For data software, we use PigCHAMP online (swine management software for data collection, management and interpretation) at one of our sites, and Maximus at another location for managing operations and feed. What sort of livestock technology do you use in your barn? One farm has ESF (electronic sow feeding) as part of the loose housing. It reads the sow’s RFID (radio frequency identification) tag and feeds it according to parity and body condition. We also employ a Maximus controller so we may view fan speeds and the amUP CLOSE Loose housing at Super Gro Gilts. Sheldon Dyck photo
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