Expansion of PIC’s global Elite Farm System
For more than 20 years PIC has been a supplier of elite pig genetics from Europe and North America to Russia. PIC’s customers in Russia rank in the top 20 largest pork producers in the country. With Russia’s objective to become one of five world-leading pork exporting countries and ensure local genetic safeguarding and additional contingency, in 2018 PIC decided to find a partner and create a high-level breeding farm in Russia to produce elite sows and boars with high genetic merit.
A brand-new project of PLC “Yaseny” in the Yeisk district of the Krasnodar region in the south of Russia has become a new Elite Farm in Russia in pursuance of PIC program for the development of Elite Farms around the world.
The capacity of this breeding farm is 1.650 pure-line sows of three PIC breeding lines: L02 (PIC Landrace), L03 (PIC Large White) and PIC 337. The farm will produce pure-line animals to stock the breeding farms of Russian powerhouses with the best genetics. Purebred animals at this nucleus will undergo RBGS assessment in the same way as animals on the elite nucleus farm in farms in the North America and Europe. This will add accuracy to the breeding index and improve the performance of Russian pork producers. This means that elite animals will become much more affordable for Russian producers, and genetic progress will be gained even faster, since all PIC Elite Farms around the world are directly linked to each other through delivery of live animals and semen of high-index boars.
End of June 2020, Large White, Landrace and PIC 337 sows and boars, 700 heads in total, flew from Canada to the cargo terminal of the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. After the transatlantic flight and all customs formalities, the animals set on the road in trucks to the Krasnodar region to their destination in the Yeisk district.
A month later, after the quarantine, the sows and boars were transferred to the main production facilities.
A PIC Technical Specialist, Michail Tarasov, has been assigned to work on a permanent basis at this Elite Farm to maintain selection in accordance to PIC standards, control implementation and maintenance of the genetic improvement program, monitor purebred matings and select animals for PIC customers. First sales of breeding stock are expected to be available starting from summer of 2021.
