By Alice McFarlane

Sow processing facility being considered in Saskatchewan

Jun 5, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Pork producers are excited about the prospect of a cull sow processing facility in Saskatchewan.

Donald’s Fine Foods, a B.C. basked pork processor purchased the former XL Foods beef processing plant in Moose Jaw and is now studying the prospects of converting it into a sow slaughter operation.

The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board said the prospect of a processing facility in the province is exciting.

General Manager Mark Ferguson said Donald’s Fine Foods is already involved in the Thunder Creek pork processing plant in Moose Jaw and is a major employer in the Saskatchewan pork industry.

He said producers are excited to hear the company is looking at expanding into cull sow processing.

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“We do not have a modern high throughput federally inspected facility dedicated to processing cull sows in Western Canada. Basically, there’s no facility that can process this class of animal,” Ferguson said. “They’re much larger than market hogs so you need different equipment to do it and different techniques.”

There are roughly a half million sows in Western Canada and 40 per cent are culled during the regular course of business with most of those sows exported to the United States.

“Having a local market for those animals might mean a slightly higher price and higher value for them which would be great for the producer,” he said.

Ferguson said the freight bill sending to the U.S. is getting quite large and any time you can add value to primary agriculture it’s a good thing.

“They spend time on trucks, and I think for the welfare of the animals as well as the value received for those animals, having a local company focused on processing them would be a big win for producers,” he said.

He added there are a lot of the jobs on the pork processing side and any time you are able to produce food in Saskatchewan would be good news for the entire industry.

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alice.mcfarlane@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @AliceMcF