Ottawa, Ontario – Jacques Poulin and Céline Bolduc were awarded the Swine Breeders’ Merit Award at the annual general meeting for the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement (CCSI) on July 8, 2020. CCSI presents this award to breeders who have made a significant contribution to the Canadian Swine Improvement Program through their leadership, achievements, and participation in performance testing.
Jacques and Céline run a purebred swine breeding operation, Ferme Porcine de Beauce, located south of Quebec City. This operation began almost from scratch, when Mr. Poulin’s father gave them a small piece of land in 1975. The purebred breeding operation began in the mid-80s and is now a herd of 400 purebred sows (Landrace, Yorkshire and Duroc). The success of the breeding herd is evident in the influence of their genetics at the Centre d'insémination du porc du Québec (CIPQ). Use of the Canadian Swine Improvement Program has allowed them, as a family farm, to get breeding values on their animals, and rank their animals within their herd and across other herds on the system, which helps them in their decision making and selection of new breeding sows and boars.
Jacques is confident the next generation will be as interested as he is about the program, and the second generation even more so. Jacques and Céline have 5 children, Philippe, Nicolas, Patricia, Dominic and Claudia, and 17 grandchildren, who play a role in the success of the operation. Jacques and Céline have passed on their passion for agriculture to their children and are now doing the same with their grandchildren. Patricia and her husband Michel are taking over the breeding farm. Meanwhile, the other children are also passionate about agriculture raising horses, operating a pig finishing unit, achieving a Bachelor of Science in Agro-economy and working in the agriculture industry.
CCSI would like to thank Mr. Poulin and Mrs. Bolduc for their dedication and service to the swine industry and congratulate them as this year’s recipients of the Swine Breeders’ Merit Award.
The Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement was created by the Canadian Pork Industry to provide leadership, coordination and services for swine genetic improvement. Its members are the regional swine improvement centers in Western Canada, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada, the Canadian Pork Council, the Canadian Meat Council, the Canadian Swine Breeders Association and users of the Canadian Swine Improvement Program.
Source : CCSI