Alberta raises about 1.6 million pigs at any one time, yet you can drive the back roads around Lethbridge all day and never see one. That’s because pigs are raised indoors, in long, low barns with big ventilation fans along the walls.
By the numbers
- Alberta had 136 hog farms and about 1.6 million pigs in the 2021 Census, about 11% of Canada’s pigs. That makes it the fourth-largest hog province.
- In 2023 Alberta produced about 2.2 million market hogs.
- About 82% of those hogs were processed right here in Alberta. Most of the rest went to B.C. and Manitoba.
- Alberta pork exports were worth about $354 million in 2023. The biggest customers were the United States and Japan.
Why indoors?
Barns keep pigs comfortable through a prairie winter and a hot summer, keep them away from wildlife and disease, and let farmers control their feed and water closely. Pigs are fed a grain-based diet, and on the prairies that usually means barley and wheat.
Biosecurity: why you can’t just drop in
Pig diseases such as PRRS, PED and African swine fever can travel on boots, clothing, hands and vehicles. So hog barns keep visitors out unless they follow strict rules:
- Visitors often need to have stayed away from other pigs for at least three nights, and longer after travelling abroad.
- Many barns require a shower in and a shower out, and everyone wears the farm’s own clothes and boots.
- Trucks and equipment are washed and kept to set routes.
If you see a sign at a farm lane asking you not to enter, that’s why. It’s protecting the animals and the farm.
Learn more
See the hogs tile in our Farm Country guide. Sources: Statistics Canada (2021 Census); Government of Alberta Agri-News (2024); Canadian Pork Council.
Top photo: Bob Nichols, USDA NRCS, public domain.