September 4, 2023
ELORA - After six years of intense planning, consulting, collaboration and construction, the new Ontario Swine Research Centre is officially open. On August 24, 2023, pork producers and their children joined University of Guelph researchers and Government officials for a tour of the facility.
The grand opening saw more than 800 guests attend. This long-awaited unveiling of the state-of-the-art facility was a proud moment for Ontario’s pork industry.
“I really like the loose housing idea with the freedom stalls,” said pork producer Kent Martin from the Drayton area. “We won’t know the results until the pigs get in there, but it all looks great.”
Melbourne Ontario pork producer Dave Dieleman said he was very impressed by the research centre. “The technology is all cutting edge,” said Dieleman. “I really look forward to seeing what results come out of this.”
The 68,000 square foot facility is equipped with the latest in agriculture technology. This includes advanced loose sow housing and automatic feeding systems. The feeding system is connected to radio frequency identification (RFID) ear tags, so researchers will be able to monitor and control the precise amount and type of blended feed mixture that each pig is eating. This valuable nutrition research data will benefit all producers.
“I think it’s super important” said Middlesex Country pork producer Dan Roelands. “With costs higher these days you are always looking to be more efficient, and if we can find new ways of being more efficient that’s great.”
“Research is incredibly important,” said Matt Adema, pork producer from Middlesex County. “We try to do our own project at home on a smaller scale and having the University doing research at a larger scale is definitely a way to move forward and make progress.”