iFarm showcases ag over four-day event

Jun 19, 2018

Ontario Pork’s Pig Mobile was on display at this year’s iFarm event in Stratford

By Kate Ayers
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Ontario Pork’s Pig Mobile made an appearance at an iFarm event to teach students about pork production in the province.

The Perth County Agricultural Association hosted iFarm last week at the Stratford Agriplex building.

The annual event provides local students and community members with an opportunity to learn about the sources of their food and how it is produced.

“We think it is really important that it is farmers talking directly to members of the public, whether that’s students or adult consumers,” Stacey Ash, manager of communications and consumer marketing for Ontario Pork, said to Farms.com on Thursday.

Consumers really need to learn about agriculture from those directly involved in the industry, she added.

Ontario Pork producers and staff volunteered their time to accompany the Pig Mobile, educate the public and answer questions.

“For many of these kids, it’s the first time they’ve seen live pigs,” Ash said.

“The focus is partly on sharing farming practices for an increasingly urban audience; letting them know about some of the work that farmers do, and the work that is involved in raising and caring for animals.”

Volunteers also highlighted “some fun facts about pigs.”

The Pig Mobile is equipped with a pig map, showing the diversity of breeds and expanding beyond the stereotypical “pink pig.”

“One thing that we always find of particular interest to kids is a map that we have of some of the different types of pigs that can be raised for food,” Ash said.

“It’s interesting for students to learn a bit more about different breeds of animals.”

iFarm and the Pig Mobile play a critical role in closing the gap between producers and consumers, as well as providing important information about food production in Ontario.

“It’s really about making sure that vital connection between farming and food isn’t lost. We know that, with each passing generation, people are further and further removed from farming,” Ash said.

“It’s important that each new generation understands the value of farming and that food doesn’t just come on a Styrofoam tray wrapped in plastic at the grocery store – there’s a process behind that.

“And there is a lot of care that goes into raising that food.”

iFarm also featured poultry, grain and dairy producers.

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”