Newfoundland - Memorial University's Digital Archives Initiative

34 - DECKS AWASH
Hogs second to none in this country
D
enis and Frank Galway,
both 30, are hog farmers
and joint owners of Shalomar
Farms Ltd., in the Goulds. Their
farm consists of two very large
barns set in the middle of 140
acres of rolling grassland . Denis
descri bes the operation to us.
" My rather was behind it," explains
Denis. " He owned 35acres
of land here and he put up a fair
bit of money to get us started.
That was back in 1976. I had been
in univeristy and Frank had been
working at a local hog farm, so
we decided to start our own.
"We started with 50 sows and
now we are up to 250. We put up
the shells or the two buildings
then finished them gradually.
Sowscost about $250 each, but the
building comes out to $2,000 to
$3,000per sow so we were looking
at about $1;2 million. We cleared
the surrounding land for manure
disposal and to grow hay .
"We don't rear our own sows,
they come from a government
breeding station . They are called
a Yorkland, a cross betwee n
Yorkshire and Landrace. They
are bred to a boar that is a fiveway
cross , Newfoundland's own.
It produces hogs that have
phenomenal growth, 1.5 to 2 lbs,
a clay. It's second to none in this
country."
The Galways send 70-80hogs a
week to market. Their 250sows
produce an average litter of 10
piglets after a gestation period of
114days. The hog's lire from birth
to market averages 170 days , by
which time it weighs 220Ibs. Sows
generally a re kept five year s, a
quart er of the breedi ng stock being
replaced an nually. Sows ar e
bought from the breeding station
at six months and bred at seven
months. We wonder how they
keep track of all the animals.
"We keep records," says Denis,
pulling a file from his desk .
"Look at this , March 1984. We
bred 54sows that month , 63 farrowed