(Shadowinternet/E+/Getty Images)

Olymel to idle multiple Prairie hog barns

Packer cites 'continued financial losses' in sector

Pork packer Olymel is preparing to dial back its hog production in Western Canada by shuttering six of its sow units in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Olymel, the agrifood arm of Quebec’s Sollio Cooperative Group, announced Friday it has served 80 employees with layoff notices at five sow units in Alberta and one in Saskatchewan. The […] Read more

Piglets at a hog operation in China. (KuLouKu/iStock/Getty Images)

China’s 2022 pork output highest in eight years

Average hog weights remain relatively high

Reuters — China’s pork output increased 4.6 per cent in 2022 from 2021 to reach its highest level since 2014, official data showed on Tuesday, confounding some expectations for a smaller rise. Pork output in the world’s top producer of the meat reached 55.41 million tonnes, the highest since 56.71 million tonnes recorded eight years […] Read more


The Back Spacer helps keep the animal forward

An idea for keeping hogs forward in a stall

A simple device that helps keep pigs in position when collecting blood samples

An idea from a southern Manitoba hog operation’s veterinarian was named winner of the 2022 F. X. Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production at the Banff Pork Congress earlier this year. Veterinarian Jewel White and her teammates Ronald Nayre and Jim Kehler of Maple Leaf Agri-Farms in Landmark, Man. were recognized with the award after […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Maple Leaf to buy four Saskatchewan hog barns

Pork processor plans future upgrades

Two sow barns and two nursery hog barns in central Saskatchewan are set to become the property of meat processor Maple Leaf Foods. Toronto-based Maple Leaf announced Wednesday it plans to buy the four barns from Polar Pork, a group of farms spearheaded by members of the Possberg family — well known as the founding […] Read more


F. Menard’s retail butcher shop at Ange-Gardien underwent a major renovation in July 2018. (FMenard.com)

F. Menard’s pork industry assets cleared for sale

Antitrust regulators have cleared the path for La Coop federee to take up a significantly larger, vertically integrated share of its home province’s pork packing, feed milling and hog production sectors. The agribusiness co-operative announced Thursday its Olymel and Sollio Agriculture arms have “received the green light” from the federal Competition Bureau to buy the […] Read more

(HylifeFoods.com)

HyLife co-founder Paul Vielfaure, 59

Funeral arrangements are pending for one of the founding brothers behind Prairie hog production and pork processing firm HyLife. Paul Vielfaure died suddenly Nov. 23 at age 59, his family reported in a brief obituary in Winnipeg and Steinbach newspapers this week. Radio-Canada reported Tuesday that Vielfaure had died in Phoenix, Arizona. While Vielfaure was […] Read more