The Canadian pig herd now stands at 13.2 million head, 2% up on the national level which existed at the beginning of 2014, indicating that the country has suffered less from PEDv than is the case in the US, according to BPEX.
Quoting the latest “Statistics Canada” livestock estimate, BPEX said that a marginal increase in Canada’s breeding herd means that overall productivity can be “anticipated to grow going forward”.
“So far, this has resulted in a 1% increase in the number of piglets on the year, despite PEDv causing a decrease in the first six months of 2014,” said BPEX. “Although slaughterings were down on the year to 20.5m head, as more weaners were exported to the US, the number of pigs being kept for slaughter at January 1, 2015, increased by 2%, reaching almost 12 million.”
That could require further investment in Canadian processing capacity, if such annual growth carries on. BPEX also noted that a 5% increase in Canada’s heaviest pigs (over 81kgs) in January, was creating the “immediate likelihood” of an increase in output in the short term.
BPEX also observed, however, that despite the reported herd increases in Canada, they were only having a limited impact on the longer term trend of declining numbers in the country which has continued since 2005.