What Makes Canada's Swine Genetics
World Leaders

For decades, Canada has had several systems in place, each of which has contributed to intensive, focused selection by breeders.

 

  1. A national Swine Registry, operating for more than 100 years, carries the credibility of third party management. See registry section elsewhere on this site for more details.

  2. A national carcass grading system for the last three decades, which has placed its emphasis on lean carcasses. While there are slight variations in the settlement grids from province to province, the reward for lean pigs is the major component of each one.

  3. A national genetics improvement program, which is operated by the Canadian Centre for Swine Improvement (CCSI). The CCSI is made up of all parties in the pork production chain from breeders to packers. Its membership consists of representatives from Canadian Swine Breeders Association, Canadian Pork Council, Canadian Meat Council and regional and/or provincial swine centres.

  4. Programs that ensure healthy breeding stock. Canada is well known for its health monitoring and management. Segregated early weaning units allow breeders to have the very highest quality health in their animals. We have built a reputation for being able to meet every stringent health request. Co-ordination of the provincial health plans into one National Swine Health Information Plan is now underway. A system to collect and analyze health data, now being widely used in Canada is called the Animal & Plant Health Information Network (APHIN). See publications (Who's Who 1996) for more details.

  5. Technology development is leading edge in Canada. For example a test has been developed by two Canadian scientists to detect the presence of the halothene gene which causes Porcine Stress Syndrome resulting in poor quality meat. This gene has effectively been eliminated throughout the Canadian breeding stock population. Check the publications section for more information.

    Currently, the only embryo transfer technology for swine in the world is owned by a Canadian company. Check the What's New section on this website for further details.

  6. Ongoing research into all aspects of production and genetics guarantees that Canada will maintain their leading-edge position in the world.

  7. By applying these programs and techniques across the whole Canadian swine industry, Canada has the world's largest pig population under the same testing and recording management.

    Through these efforts and the collaborative nature of the industry in Canada, we have earned a well deserved reputation throughout the world for developing and maintaining breeding stock among the finest anywhere.

Other related topics in this section include: