Second Look: Does history keep repeating itself?

Friday, May 30, 2008

Many of the latest management concepts are nothing new. But, this time around, they are backed by current science and technology

by RICHARD SMELSKI

A great mentor of mine, Dr Gordon Bowman, used to say that "every producer should take a lesson in history, so as not to repeat the errors of his forefathers."

If we look through the past trends in pig production, we can see how true his statement is. We have experienced more change in the pig industry in the last 10 years than the previous 50. But, upon closer analysis, the more things change, the more they remain the same.

Much is being made of some of the latest management concepts, such as batch farrowing, liquid feeding, byproduct feeding, immune status, heavier carcasses, longer weaning ages and biosecurity extremes.Yet these concepts are nothing new and merely history repeating itself. Liquid feeding was the only way to feed hogs in my boyhood. One always watered the "chop" and regularly returned from town with buttermilk, whey or byproducts to supplement the feed. Now we think it is the latest technology.

Early weaning has been tried several times in the last 50 years, usually to no avail. In hindsight, there are many things we consider new technologies that were done 50 years ago – biosecurity through "keeping those pens clean and fresh," immunity through feed back, and environmental comfort through the amount of straw in the pen. Keeping back your own gilts from a known boar was commonplace, and now we call it planned mating.

Certainly, there are advances, but the basics keep repeating themselves. So, if history repeats itself, and I think it does, what else can we see repeating? "Small is beautiful" is one example. I do not believe in the long-term survival of the mega-integrators. Pigs were known as the mortgage lifters in agriculture, but these mortgage lifters were often used to get one into other business (because of their cyclical prices). At one time, one took pride in the taste of the pork that was produced. I think we will see a return to this especially if one wants to capture the full consumer value.

Lastly, the corn/hog ratio was alive and well for 100 years, so will it continue? I think so and, once again, 18-20 bushels of corn equals a hundredweight of hogs.

Many of these concepts will return, but backed by current science and technology. We can simplify things by saying that slop feeding is history repeating itself, but we also need to understand the science and food safety concerns that justify these changes. Liquid feeding is not slop feeding, because now we have it computerized, monitored, researched and dissected, so that even minor changes are calculated to identify the final outcome. History may be repeating itself but with tremendous scientific and philosophical depth. Whereas at one time we knew what to do, now we know why.

Will history repeat itself? It's like the two farmers watching a newscast where someone was about to jump from a ledge. One farmer bet the other that the person on the ledge wouldn't jump and, unfortunately, he lost.

At the next newscast, the same farmer bet his partner again that the person on the ledge wouldn't jump – and, lo and behold, he lost again. His partner asked him why he would bet on a replay and his reply was that "I didn't think he was stupid enough to jump off the ledge the second time."

Everybody should take a lesson in history so as not to repeat the errors of their forefathers. BP

Former Ontario government swine specialist Richard Smelski most recently served as general manager of Ontario Swine Improvement Inc.