Since the 17th century colonization of what is now the French speaking part of Canada, pork has been king. This primary source of protein for settlers still leaves its mark today with all sorts of dietary and even cultural traditions such as French-Canadian delicacies like Tourtiere and Cretons. Pork is still by far the most widely consumed meat in French Canada, the only place in the world so inclined. TransCanada Milling is part of this tradition with several generations of the Couture family providing the many local pork farmers with feed grain. Here follows a story of the link between pork and zinc.

With ever rising demand for pork products, it was time for expansion and TransCanada commissioned a major eight-silo installation of their storage and sorting capacity. The global supply and logistics nightmare created by Covid policies found it’s way to this small-town Quebec business project. Spiraling steel costs, steel scarcity and labor shortages all wreaked havoc on plans, schedules and budgets. Ironically these new challenges highlighted the many advantages of hot-dip galvanizing.

Presented with the knowledge shared from their many pork farming clients as well as the fabricator (specialized in agricultural construction) that hot-dip galvanizing was the proven solution to corrosion even in the ultra challenging environment of pork penning (an aggressively corrosive environment thanks to the physiology of pigs) TransCanada specified safe and effective hot-dip galvanized steel for their silo project with no hesitation.

This turned out fortuitous when the Covid related challenges became apparent. Scarcity of certain steel profiles required repeated redesigns but the well-versed technical team at the galvanizer was able to rapidly address hot-dip galvanizing's suitability changes with the fabricator. Delays in steel supply highlighted the fast turnaround time afforded by the several large and high-capacity galvanizing plants in the surrounding area. Sky high steel prices were partly offset by the surprisingly low initial cost of hot-dip galvanizing (not to mention the even lower life cycle cost). Lastly the robust nature of the pure zinc coating permitted an expedited installation timetable without the delays and associated costs of erecting and touching up fragile painted components.

So, despite the unique challenges of 2021 TransCanada Milling is already serving the growing demand for its feeds with an impressive array of eight new silos and they will stay impressive looking for decades to come thanks to the legendary durability of hot-dip galvanizing for all aspects of the pork industry.