A Manitoba based livestock feed supplier says government programs and improved hog markets are allowing hog producers to bring outstanding feed accounts up to date.
Following approximately three years of ongoing losses returns to western Canadian pork producers have shown dramatic improvement over the past two to three months.
Eastman Feeds vice-president and general manager Ron Friesen observes we traditionally see higher demand and higher prices for hogs during June, July and August and that trend has held true this year.
There’s quite a bit of demand in the marketplace.
Certainly the packers are looking to bring in heavier weights and more hogs so the demand is there and we know that there’s enough shackle space to accommodate the hogs that are being killed.
There’s over two million hogs a week being killed in North America and that, for some reason, hasn’t come down where we’d like it to.
We’d like to drop below two million hogs to really get this price moving but it certainly has helped.
Then on the cost of feeding, the cost of grains have dropped a little bit.
Although we’ve had some movement here in the last little while on bean meal, corn, wheat and barley have stabilized however the crop outlook looks very good for the fall harvest here.
It appears that there may be one of the biggest crops in history coming off here in North America so we’re looking foreword to higher hog prices and lower grain prices and that bodes well for the hog farmers and their ability to pay their bills.
Friesen notes the Hog Farm Transition Program, which provided buyouts based on a tendering process, allowed pork producers to pay off debt and exit the industry while reducing Manitoba’s sow herd by about two percent.
He adds substantial payouts under AgriStability have also helped bolster the incomes of hog producers and given them an opportunity to pay down debts to suppliers.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
