By Bruce Cochrane.
The judge of the 2012 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Hog Quality Competition says a greater emphasis on marbling is helping improve the desirability of Canadian pork.
The 2012 Royal Manitoba Winter Fair Hog Quality Competition, held yesterday in Brandon, attracted 30 entries from 10 Hutterite Colonies throughout Manitoba.
Dr. Bob McKay, who's been involved with the competition since 1996, observes a greater emphasis on marbling is helping improve the desirability of the product.
Dr. Bob McKay-Royal Manitoba Winter Fair:
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Back in the late 90s we would never see any marbling.
We're starting to see more marbling, we started that about three or four years ago and it's increasing.
Part of that's related to things that are being done in the industry.
Maple Leaf's grading grid penalizes if you're too lean, it penalizes if you're too fat so you've just got to be right.
It's kind of like Goldilocks, too fat is bad, too lean is bad, it's got to be just right and that helps promote a higher fat level which increases marbling.
I'm hoping that pork quality continues to improve.
We do sell pork, not pigs and you have to remember what a pig is.
A pig is just packaging for two shoulders, two loins, two bellies and two hams.
If the meat isn't nutritious and desirable to the people that we're trying to sell it to we aren't going to have an industry.
We have to take into account that we export the majority of our product and we have to target the meat quality that these people want so our industry has to go forward and we've got companies out there that are evaluating their breeding programs through carcass evaluation and actually making selections based on how good their meat quality is.
Hidden Valley Colony of Austin claimed this year's top award in the Hog Quality Competition with Wellwood Colony of Ninette placing second.
A newly introduced Grand Aggregate Competition, in which entrants are ranked based on their placings since 2003, saw Spring Valley Colony of Brandon named Champion and Wellwood Colony of Ninette Reserve.