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August 2005 Issue
The ultimate combination
by Darrell Anderson
I'm still recuperating from the World Pork Expo as I write this month's column, and my mind is spinning with all the activities that took place there. As you'll see in the show and sale reports in this issue, our breed shows and sales were phenomenal and more than tripled the sale gross of just two years ago. There is little doubt that an improved hog market and the excitement created by the junior activities increased the demand for top-quality genetics. In only its second year, the junior show drew 607 hogs from 23 states.
The Hampshire sale kicked off the activities on Saturday as the champion boar brought $50,000. The Yorkshire sale was the final activity of the event, and we finished in grand fashion as well. We sold 44 of the 45 boars cataloged and all 67 of the gilts cataloged. Did I mention that the entire offering of gilts from our four breeds averaged $1,135? Needless to say, it was one of the greatest sales in recent history.
In the commercial exhibit building, our booth generated a lot of interest and Rick Pfortmiller indicated that we distributed more material this year than in recent years. Many commercial producers are looking for answers to their sow longevity and pork quality problems, and many folks want to talk directly to the producer that raises the breeding stock. There is a window of opportunity again for our breeders that are serious about pursuing the commercial sector, but it may require making some changes in your operation.
I recently heard a speaker at a cattle conference make this statement, "The seedstock operation that functions as it has in the past, no matter how successfully, will find it difficult, if not impossible, to prosper in the future." While some of the principles of breeding and making better hogs haven’t changed that much, the delivery methods and marketing avenues have changed dramatically.
Let me give you a great example. While at the World Pork Expo, one of our major corporate genetic suppliers announced the release of their "ultimate combination" boar. And, wow, has the industry gotten excited! According to the company’s information, the boar is already sold out until fall, and folks are falling in line to get their name on a waiting list.
This boar is reported to combine the attributes of one of their popular "white-line" boars (growth, feed conversion and the ability to grow to heavier weights) with the traits from their "red boars" (export-quality pork). Let me digress for a minute - this is one of my real concerns for our industry. When do we as a pork industry come to grips with the fact that if we continue to only produce a small portion of "export-quality" pork that we ship to our international customers, we leave our U.S. consumers with an average or below-average product and will soon not have any domestic customers?
O.K. - let me get back to my main message here. While our competitor is taking advantage of an enormous amount of free publicity promoting their new "ultimate combination" boar, we have been selling that same combination for decades and for some reason, seem shy about telling anyone about it. It's quite obvious that the majority of their new boar is the result of blending Yorkshire genetics with their Duroc lines. We have known for decades that those two breeds, in many cases coupled with Landrace or Hampshire, have resulted in the "ultimate combination."
Is it too late for our breeders that want to chase after the commercial industry? Absolutely not, as several of our larger breeders are enjoying the very best year they have ever experienced in seedstock sales. With more than 15 years of intense genetic selection based on BLUP technology, coupled with common-sense stockmanship, we have positioned ourselves in a very unique capacity to meet the needs of today’s commercial industry. The international market recognizes this fact, as export sales of purebred hogs in 2005 are on track to establish an all-time record.
Don't ever underestimate your ability to produce the "ultimate combination." It wasn't a coincidence that we had "standing room only" crowds at all of our events in Des Moines - they wanted to see what direction we were taking the industry. We can be, and still are, the leaders in genetic improvement - we just shouldn't be so shy about it.
