WINNIPEG, Manitoba – Pressured by soaring feed costs, Canada's second-largest hog producer, Big Sky Farms announced the company has entered receivership, according to Reuters.

An outside party will control the Humboldt, Saskatchewan-based company until it can restructure its debt or be sold. The company has no plans to liquidate its hog inventory or lay off workers.

Big Sky Farms produces 40 percent of the pork in Saskatchewan. The company has more than 42,000 sows in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, and produces more than 850,000 market hogs in Canada and the United States annually, according to the company's web site. Big Sky Farms supplies Maple Leaf Foods and Olymel packing plants, according to Reuters.

Severe and persistent drought conditions in the US have precipitated surging prices for animal feed such as corn. US producers are liquidating their herds to limit the number of mouths to feed, which has exacerbated a seasonal increase in pork supplies and lowered prices. In an interview with the Manitoba Farm Journal, Casey Smit, CEO of Big Sky, said the company was losing C$40 to C$50 ($41-$51) per head sent to market.