The Blenkiron family’s ‘Gumshire’ piggery has expanded from 10 to 150 sows in the past 10 years.
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reader, so we don’t have to manually read ear notches and input their numbers”, added Shaun. In February this year, the Blenkiron’s installed a new Skiold disc mill to improve the consistency of grain particle size in their diets and to reduce milling labour. Their traditional feed milling had relied on a 353 hammermill, but the farm’s grain silos and feed bins were never located in a single spot, and valuable time was lost unloading feed instead of milling. “A local poultry farmer retired about five years ago and left a fairly new feed milling setup behind. “We bought the lot, silos, weigh bins, augers, computer boards and a mixer, and moved it all home about two years ago,” explained Shaun. “All we needed was a better mill. “We spoke with a couple of other pig producers we knew had installed disc mills and decided we’d get one ourselves. “We haven’t looked back. Our grain comes through now with a more consistent grind and our pigs are filling out more and growing faster. “Steve Fairey at Laucke’s formulates our diets and we use all their bagged premixes. “These days we use the hammermill to deliver feed around the farm, but we can set the new mill going with the next diet in the meantime, so that means we’re doing two jobs at the same time and reducing our overall labour spent
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on milling feed,” added Shaun. In January, 2014 Shaun purchased Future Pork, a genetic supply business currently standing 32 A.I. boars at SABOR Artificial Breeding Centre, Clare. “There is a fair variety to choose from, Large White, Landrace, Duroc, Hampshire and Terminal. “I supply semen to all sorts of farms, from free range to stud breeders and big commercial piggeries,” said Shaun. “The top five placings in the Commercial Pork & Bacon sections this year at the Royal Adelaide Show all used Future Pork genetics. I have semen going into every state at the moment. “A.I. is a great way to get your genetics out to industry and while we are at our current herd size, I can put time into this side of our business. Genetic improvement is something that has always interested me,” explained Shaun. “There’s no sense in locking-up your best genetics and hiding it from the industry. You’re better off getting it out there for everyone to use. “In the long term I’d like to get into supplying semen overseas. All our boars are listed on our futurepork.com. au website and I personally handle all the administration and semen sales,” said Shaun. “I get a lot of satisfaction watching the pigs as they come through the sorter looking their best and able to add something to our client’s herds.” Michael Blenkiron serves as
a Councillor on the Pig and Dairy Committee of the Adelaide Show and is current President of the SA Purebred Pig Breeders’ Association. “It’s a good feeling to be able to track a batch of pigs from when they were born to when they were sold, and see the results from their breeding are headed in the direction we want,” said Michael. “And it’s satisfying to know that your genetics are working in other herds,” Shaun added. With the average age of Australian piggery staff now more than 60 years, it’s a refreshing change to be able to track the progress of someone like Shaun Blenkiron, who has already spent half his life working towards breeding a better pig. His future is certainly embedded in pork!
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