By Bruce Cochrane
The new "Pig Tales" exhibit at the Red River Ex will allow the public to see what happens in a swine barn without risking the health of the pigs.
The Red River Exhibition kicked off Friday in Winnipeg and wraps up Sunday.
The 2014 edition features over 45 new events and attractions including Manitoba Pork's revamped "Pig Tales" exhibit.
Susan Riese, the manager of public relations and consumer marketing programs with Manitoba Pork, says visitors have the opportunity to learn about all aspects of pork production from the farm gate to their plates.
Susan Riese-Manitoba Pork:
First of all they'll be invited to pretend to take a shower and they'll get to learn about some of the biosecurity practices that we have on the farm to make sure that our pigs stay healthy.
From there they move through the various stages of production from breeding to the gestation barn, the farrowing area, the nursery, the weanling area and then we end with the grocery store where they can pick up recipe booklets and grocery bags and learn about where the different cuts of pork come from and what we do with parts of the pig that aren't used for food.
I think, for the most part, the public is curious as to how their food is produced and they want to know or have some degree of certainty that the animals are well cared for so that is one of the key messages that we're trying to showcase here by having the various different videos that people can watch to take a look at what happens behind the barn doors and invite people in without actually bringing them into the barn which, as you know, something we can't do due to biosecurity measures and making sure we keep our animals healthy.
I think it's a great way to showcase the industry since there's no other real way to do it.
Riese acknowledges overall attendance will be dependant on the weather but she's hoping to see an average of about 500 visitors per day pass through the display over the ten days of the exhibition.
Source: Farmscape