$12 2021 SPRING EDITION THE NEXT “BLACK SWAN” EVENT FOR HOG VALUES 26 LIVESTOCK DRIVES PRECISION TECHNOLOGY 35 SWINE ASSOCIATIONS GIVE BACK 8 Published By: Farms.com Media & Publishing & PigCHAMP, Inc. 1531 Airport Road, Suite 101 Ames, Iowa 50010 866-774-4242 Canadian Office: www.pigchamp.com | www.farms.com | www.farms.com/swine 90 Woodlawn Road West Guelph, ON N1H 1B2 888-248-4893 x293 PigCHAMP Leadership Team Welcome Donna Hover 4 [email protected] Jayne Jackson [email protected] 5 Belcampo’s Farm Martin Widdowson [email protected] State and National Swine Associations Editorial Co-ordinator 8 Donna Hover Give back during the pandemic [email protected] Assistant to the Co-ordinator Mikaela Hadaway 12 Pork with a Purpose [email protected] PigCHAMP Benchmarking Manager 14 Lemons to “Bacon” and Travelling Pigs Susan Olson [email protected] Farms.com Sales Manager 18 Piglet Potential Andrew Bawden [email protected] Farms.com Marketing 22 USA 2020 year summary & Operations Denise Faguy [email protected] 23 Canada 2020 year summary Postmaster Please send returns to: 90 Woodlawn Road West Benchmarking sow herds Guelph, ON N1H 1B2 24 Benchmark Resources Online These articles, along with articles from Will Chinese Demand or Soaring Feed past Benchmark magazines and addi- 26 tional expert information, can be found Costs be the next “Black Swan” Event on the PigCHAMP website: PigCHAMP. for Hog Values? com/news/benchmark-magazine If you have any additional information or suggestions for future articles please Finding the Silver Lining contact us at [email protected]. 29 We will post these articles on the Farms.com swine news pages, or include them in future issues of Benchmark. 32 The Bountiful Pig... To receive weekly swine newsletters (free of charge), email [email protected] with 35 Livestock Drives Precision Technology the title Swine Canada. Canadian Mail Publications Sales Agreement #42518524 All rights reserved. Editorial materials are 38 The Race Must Go on! copyrighted. Permission to reprint may be granted upon request. Cover: bazilfoto/iStock/Getty Images Plus, enjoynz/DigitalVision Vectors via Getty Images, 40 United States Pork Industry Research SvetaZi/iStock/Getty Images Plus Spring 2021 www.pigchamp.com 3 BENCHMARK WELCOME By Donna Hover The Bountiful Pig. When you think of pigs, what In this year’s Benchmark Magazine, “The Bounti- do you think of? Did you know that everyday pigs ful Pig”, we would like to share stories about how provide vital needs for humans? Pork products pigs enhance our lives; as well as stories on the range from safe high-quality delicious sources of swine industry giving back to help their communi- protein, lifesaving medical uses, and many oth- ties and those in need. er products that help improve the quality of our And last, but not least, we want to THANK lives. No other animal provides such a wide range pork producers and those in the swine industry of products for society as pigs. Through new tech- for all they endure. We are in gratitude for their nologies and innovative research, new by-prod- hard work and dedication which provide us with ucts from pigs continue to be developed every a large range of products that makes our lives day. Here is a small list of some essential contribu- better. tions from pigs and the swine industry: • Quality protein, vitamin, and mineral source • Donations to Food Banks and those in need • Job opportunities • Financial and economic growth • Dog toys • Educational training at Institutions providing potential career paths • Biomedical Research • Medical Uses – Skin, Heart Valves, and Images photo Plus Tsekhmister/iStock/Getty nearly 20 Drugs and Pharmaceuticals • By-products: Fertilizer, Antifreeze, Rubber, Crayons, Chalk, Adhesives, Leather, and Cosmetics THE TEAM DONNA HOVER JAYNE JACKSON MARTIN WIDDOWSON GRAHAM DYER Director of Administration, Product and Sales Development President & CEO HR & Sales Manager Manager Farms.com Group www.pigchamp.com www.pigchamp.com www.pigchamp.com www.farms.com 4 www.pigchamp.com Spring 2021 BELCAMPO’S FARM Delivering meat today’s consumers can feel good about! By Donna Hover The Belcampo Farm was started in 2012 and their delicious products. Due to COVID-19, founded with the mission “to deliver meat you when in-house dining restaurants were shut can feel good about”. Belcampo meat products down, Belcampo changed their focus from dining are a quality protein source for people; Belcampo restaurants and focused on curb-side meal pickup certifies humane treatment of its animals; and and direct meat sales to consumers. Ecommerce regenerative agriculture for the environment. now plays a large part of their business and will Belcampo is a multi-species niche business. It is continue. currently regrouping its business to focus pri- marily on pork and beef. Belcampo is the largest pork producer on the west coast and is work- ing towards being the largest certified organic pork farm in the nation. Certifications they have obtained are for humane treatment, organic meat and soon to be GAP (Good Agricultural Practices). Once GAP status has been accomplished, the Belcampo team believes it will be the only pork business with all these certifications. Expansion has allowed Belcampo to have their own FDA approved processing facility, full-service butcher shops and authentic farm-to-table restaurants. Their GOAL is to have total transparency of their products from start to finish. Belcampo Butchery: By owning their own butchery, Belcampo has complete control over their supply chain. This butchery ownership al- lowed Belcampo to continue to provide a place to process its animals during 2020, only being closed for 2 weeks during the pandemic. This kept them from being impacted during the COVID-19 surge last spring when packers were shut down for weeks or running at low production capacity. Belcampo Restaurants: Farm-to-Table restau- rants are another avenue for Belcampo to retail Spring 2021 www.pigchamp.com 5 Belcampo Pork Products: Preferred cuts of meat have not changed from the past, with bacon still being the most requested cut of pork by con- sumers. The high demand for bacon keeps their meat inventory low not allowing them to have product for sale of pork bellies. Belcampo pork chops are another highly requested cut. Their pork chops have a covering of fat that maintains juiciness in the meat during preparation, as well as adds flavor. Belcampo Animals: The 2020 pandemic did not affect the way Belcampo cared for its animals. Pigs were raised in a modified pasture environ- ment and hoop buildings. The extreme changes of temperatures from winter to summer can be a challenge when caring for livestock. During the extreme summer heat, Belcampo continued to take good care of their animals and made them comfortable by cooling them with sprinklers and providing shade. Sows are pen farrowed, but after farrowing, the sows and piglets will go to group lactation. This is a positive experience for the piglets. This new environment is not so scary because they 6 www.pigchamp.com Spring 2021 still have the comfort of being with their mother. Here pigs play and socialize with other piglets that will continue to be in their group during their life cycle. Also, another advantage is that piglets have more opportunities for mealtime, as now all the moms in the group can provide piglets needed milk supply. Piglets are weaned somewhere around 28 to 30 days which is a week or so longer than most swine producers today. When piglets are finally weaned, they will stay with the same group of pigs, thus lowering piglet stress. Belcampo continues research and imple- ments best process practices ensuring what is best for their animals and the market. Belcampo Outreach: Belcampo gives back to their community in many ways, such as sup- porting its local elementary schools by donating proceeds from their pumpkin revenue. Another is by attending more local Farmer Markets. At Farmer Markets people can buy quality products at an economical price. Belcampo feels this is im- portant for their community, even though their product could be sold in San Francisco at a much higher price. Belcampo Resources: Belcampo has a great group of employees that allows them to main- tain their high standards in production as well as quality products. Finding team members for this type of operation, combined with the fact the employment opportunities are in a rural location, makes it challenging to recruit talent that meets Belcampo’s expectations. Belcampo feels very lucky to be blessed with great staff that truly cares for their animals. PigCHAMP has been a great support for managing Belcampo’s swine operation. PigCHAMP has helped Belcampo de- velop its pork business with production knowl- edge and is becoming more and more essential as Belcampo uses PigCHAMP to monitor disease management more deeply. Niche markets continue to provide opportu- nities to local farms that differentiate themselves with unique quality products, as well as being a company that meets today’s expectations of so- cial responsibility. Belcampo continues growing to include a network of carefully vetted, certified producers that are committed to expand the im- pact of its mission. Spring 2021 www.pigchamp.com 7 STATE AND NATIONAL SWINE ASSOCIATIONS GIVE BACK DURING THE PANDEMIC Spotlight on Iowa Pass the Pork Program By Mikaela Hadaway Back in February 2021, the PigCHAMP team had hogs for communities in need. Toward the last the pleasure of sitting down over Zoom with Joyce half of 2020, they also received help from the Iowa Hoppes from the Iowa Pork Producers Associa- State University Meat Lab. There, donated pigs tion (IPPA). As the Consumer Information Direc- were processed and some of the donated dollars tor, Joyce works closely with retailers, educators, were used to purchase raw pork product and and healthcare workers on the consumer side of grind it.