THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 2014
VOL. 92 | NO. 15 | $4.25
King’s Acres GROWING WITH FARMERS FOR 90 YEARS
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Alberta’s historic Waldron Ranch just got bigger. | P. 39
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TRANSPORTATION | GRAIN STOCKS
PED takes a toll | Virus hard on animals, heartbreaking for hog producers who get the news and are faced with tough decisions BY BARB GLEN LETHBRIDGE BUREAU
There is an as yet unexplored human cost to porcine epidemic diarrhea virus. Dr. Egan Brockhoff, an Alberta veterinarian who has seen PED do its deadly work in Asian and American hog barns, has also seen the emotional toll it takes on hog producers who have it in their barns. “It’s a heartbreaking disease. This isn’t just going to be devastating to the animals, its devastating for the people,” Brockhoff said in an interview April 2 after speaking to Lethbridge area hog producers. “I think without question it is extremely devastating to them. You see people just quitting, in the big barns. Some people give it three or four days and then they just say, ‘I can’t watch this,’ because they know they’d have to watch (piglets die) for the next three or four weeks. So there’s a human cost to this disease that we haven’t talked a lot about.” PED virus is fatal to young piglets and producers can expect near total mortality of newborns. Older pigs stand a better chance of recovery. It is spread by fecal-oral contact, and even a small amount of virus can grow and cause an outbreak, with symptoms of extreme diarrhea and vomiting in pigs. Forty-seven Ontario barns were confirmed with PED as of April 4. Single cases in Manitoba, Quebec and Prince Edward Island were controlled before the virus could spread. The most recent Ontario cases were confirmed in finisher barns, and Brockhoff said PED can be easily missed in older animals because diarrhea can be attributed to several causes. “It’s often very subtle in mature pigs. A lot of people can miss the disease in a grow-finish population,” he said. SEE PED COSTS, PAGE 3
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ONLINE | LATEST MARKETS & NEWS (VIDEO) • PHOTO CONTEST: PLANT 14 • PINTEREST: ON THE FARM
Historic agricultural fair building refurbished
Churchill’s ambitious export plans
Dominion Exhibition Display Building No. II is one of the few remaining buildings from the Dominion fair era in Canada. It just got a facelift. | Page 16
The Port of Churchill hopes to export more than 700,000 tonnes of prairie grain this year. To accomplish that goal, it needs rail cars. | Page 40
Faster rail | New federal orders will have little effect on stocks BY SEAN PRATT SASKATOON NEWSROOM
The federal government’s grain delivery mandate won’t have much impact on Canada’s burdensome carryout, say analysts. Agriculture Canada is forecasting 22.8 million tonnes of ending stocks for grains and oilseeds in 2013-14, which is not likely to be adjusted much. “Right now we’re still leaning towards leaving our carryout, not making significant changes to it,” said Chris Beckman, an oilseed analyst with Agriculture Canada. SEE STOCKS FORECAST, PAGE 2
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u|xhHEEJBy00001pzYv,:! APRIL 10, 2014 Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: Box 2500, Saskatoon, SK. S7K 2C4 The Western Producer is published in Saskatoon by Western Producer Publications, which is owned by GVIC Communications Corp. Publisher: Shaun Jessome Publications Mail Agreement No. 40069240
Dark days for the hog industry
Speedier handlings won’t cut carryout