Pork Con­gress com­ing June 17-18

BY GARY WEST, Ontario Farmer

With most of spring plant­ing near com­ple­tion, the Ontario Pork Con­gress (OPC) is expect­ing large crowds at this year’s show at the Rotary Com­plex in Strat­ford.

Organ­izers have been work­ing over the last 11 months to pull together the June 17,18 for farm­ers of all kinds to set some time aside and have a look at the pork industry’s new innov­a­tions. Also, it is a time to see old friends and neigh­bours.

On the first day, the topic of the present­a­tions this year is pig­let care.

Taste the Best Pork sampling fea­tur­ing local res­taur­ants and a brew­ery, where the cut of choice is pork shoulder and apricots.

The even­ing sees the annual Hog Jog and Weaner char­ity run, organ­ized by the Ontario Pork Industry Coun­cil.

This year the Hog Jog will be sup­port­ing the Emily Murphy Centre, a Strat­ford-based organ­iz­a­tion, ded­ic­ated to sup­port­ing women and chil­dren who have exper­i­enced viol­ence.

A new event this year, in the even­ing of the first day, is a Hog Jog Live Auc­tion in the Hog Jog din­ing area, where attendees can buy boxes of back ribs, ten­der­loins and bone­less butts.

On day 2 is the Bacon Maker Clas­sic live hog show, a youth swine com­pet­i­tion open to ages 9 to 21. The com­pet­i­tion runs from 11 AM to 3 PM with an award cere­mony between 3 and 4 PM.

There will also be a Past Pres­id­ent’s lunch­eon event, inter­na­tional work­ers edu­ca­tional event, and a pork qual­ity com­pet­i­tion, which this year will fea­ture dif­fer­ent cuts of meat instead of the whole car­cass.

OPC pres­id­ent Vic­toria Stew­art says there is something for every­one at this year’s show, and encour­ages vis­it­ors to come with an appet­ite to taste some of the best pork Perth County has to offer.