The 50 million dollar federal Cull Breeding Swine program, introduced in February, targets a 150 thousand head or 10 percent reduction in the Canadian breeding herd.

Applications for the program have been slow and steady and, so far, producers have applied for the removal of about 113 thousand head.

Canadian Pork Council communications officer Gary Stordy says 30 million dollars has been set aside for the removal of those animals leaving about 20 million dollars still available.

Gary Stordy-Canadian Pork Council

Essentially some of the concerns for the producers are the requirement for the barn.

By applying for the program they're asked to not have sows in their barn for three years and some of the difficulty with that is producers want to continue production.

This is their livelihood and it's a hard decision to make.

There is, we're hearing reports, some misunderstandings and some misinformation out there.

If they do apply for the program they don't necessarily have to shut down the barn completely.

They don't have to leave it empty or do what ever for the three years.

They can do other things with the barn.

It's just, for those three years, they're not permitted to have breeding sows in those facilities.

They can perhaps re-tool the barn for another type of production or perhaps even as a feeder barn.

To be considered for the programs applications must be postmarked by August 31.

Stordy notes producers can visit the Canadian pork Council web site at cpc-ccp.com or call the administration hot line at 1-877-655-2567 for additional information or to check the status of an existing application.