File Photo. These aren't necessarily Lacombe Pigs. Don't @ me. - Editor
The story at www.producer.com, which ran in August, was about Leah Predy from Ponoka, Alta., who was raising Lacombe pigs after moving back to the family farm a few years ago. Fewer than five farms in Canada have registered Lacombes today, and Heritage Livestock Canada puts the species’ current population at 10 to 15 adult breeding females and two active breeding males. These numbers are so low, Lacombe’s are listed as being in danger of becoming extinct.
That hit a real nerve for me, and even as I type this, I feel incredibly saddened by the prospect for Lacombe’s. The reasons for my sadness are twofold. In general terms, I have always been a proponent that rare livestock breeds need to be preserved because they are part of agriculture’s history, and one cannot predict what genetic traits might serve the sector best in the future.
More specifically, in the case of Lacombe’s, they are one of the few livestock breeds developed in Canada, in Lacombe, AB. Back in 1947, to be precise, and they are a breed of pig, I raised a few decades ago myself.
I grew up on a farm where my dad raised registered Yorkshire pigs. Of course, there came a day I wanted pigs I could call my own, and like many kids, I didn’t want the same thing dad had. So, I did some extra chores, begged some extra dollars, and purchased an open (not bred) Lacombe gilt at a swine sale in Melfort. The seller was good enough to offer to take the gilt home to mate, and in about four months, I was sitting near her stall in the barn dreaming of the litter she was about to have and how I’d no doubt take the Lacombe world by storm with all her offspring.
She farrowed, giving birth to one bouncing baby boar, which, while doubling my herd size, did not exactly do much for my herd’s future growth. Back then, of course, in the late 1970s, Lacombe’s were far from endangered. With breeders such as Ernie Hirsch, who I purchased the gilt from, Doug and son Don Brooks of Rosthern, Ken Leask at Marcelin, and Walter and son Jurgen Preugschas of Five Lakes Farms at Matherthorpe, AB., having sizeable herds that regularly headed to major shows of the era.
To think the breed is now on the brink of disappearing is incredibly sad from my perspective, and I am left remembering my past as I also hope for Lacombe pigs’ future.
- Calvin Daniels
Comment on this article at lmtimes.ca/calvin
Disclaimer: opinions expressed are those of the writer.
