Saskatchewan Pork Policy Analyst Mark Ferguson concludes that a number of factors are likely to result in an increased number of weanlings and feeder pigs moving to the US to be finished.
Ferguson cites the lack of shackle space, increasing transportation costs, and impending Country of Origin Labeling requirements as factors that will likely contribute to western Canadian producers deciding to export younger pigs to the U.S. rather than finished hogs. He says that "a lot of producers are avoiding the high transportation costs by shipping the pigs south as weanlings and therefore they don’t have to incur a ten or 20 dollar bill to ship the hogs to a plant."
Source:
Farmscape.ca, Episode 2592