Prairie Swine Centre

Glenn Flaten, (centre left) Chairman of the Saskatchewan Hog Marketing Commission, presented Vice-president Kristjanson (centre right) with a $90,000 cheque, the final instalment of the SHMC's initial commitment of $310,000 toward the capital cost of the Prairie Swine Centre, April 1980.

University of Saskatchewan Archives / Gibson Photo, A-6633

Prairie Swine Centre Inc. is a non-profit research and technology transfer corporation, affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan, with expertise in three disciplines: nutrition, engineering, and behaviour. The mission of the Prairie Swine Centre is “to provide a centre of excellence in research, graduate education and technology transfer, all directed at efficient, sustainable pork production.” Swine production efficiency, environmental sustainability, and animal welfare mark the major thrusts of the Centre. The research program seeks to improve the financial position of pork producers by defining feeding and management systems that maximize net income. In addition, the Centre carries out research to address issues and opportunities in environment, barn air quality, worker health and safety, odour reduction technologies, and animal well-being.

The Centre, established in 1991, has fifty employees and a research and development budget of $2.7 million; it operates both public and contract research programs to meet industry needs. The animal facilities include a 280-sow farrow-to-finish farm with a range of capabilities that allow for pigs to be housed individually through to commercial-scale group sizes. In addition, the facilities contain specialized features for intensive research including metabolism monitoring. A subsidiary, PSC Elstow Research Farm Inc., operates a 600-sow farrow-to-finish facility, as well as a feed mill to conduct near-market research under conditions reflective of typical commercial barns operating in western Canada.

Lee Whittington