Better Pork - October 2016

Better Pork

October 2016

SWINE

HEALTH

ONTARIO

here’s a new Ontario swine

leadership team focused on

improving the industry’s ability

to prevent, prepare for, and respond

to serious swine health threats in

the province. And they’ve been able

to secure funding to help producers

eliminate Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea

virus (PED) and support the devel-

opment of associated risk reduction

strategies.

Swine Health Ontario (SHO) is a

team of seven industry representa-

tives guiding swine health-related

projects and programs in Ontario in

collaboration with Ontario Pork, On-

tario Pork Industry Council (OPIC),

Ontario Swine Health Advisory

Board (OSHAB), Ontario Ministry of

Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs

(OMAFRA), Animal Health Labora-

tory, University of Guelph, Ontario

Association of Swine Practitioners,

and the Ontario Animal Health

Network.

“From an industry standpoint, our

goal is to improve prevention, pre-

paredness and response to significant

swine health issues across the entire

industry. (Achieving this goal) will

reduce risks and losses so that we

can maintain a healthy and profit-

able pork industry in Ontario,” says

SHO Chair Dr. David Alves. “Our

key focus is implementing a long-

term, sustainable and proactive swine

health strategy.”

Of particular interest to producers

is SHO’s goal of eliminating Porcine

Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) from On-

tario swine herds by October 2017.

One of its first activities will be the

implementation of a PED elimina-

tion plan for all Ontario hog farm

sites. The development of this plan

will also provide a model for address-

ing other important swine health

diseases in Ontario.

Ontario has been successful at lim-

iting PED’s impact since it was first

discovered here two years ago. Alves

says there’s now an opportunity to

eliminate PED from the province al-

together and show how the industry

can collaborate to address important

swine health issues.

Participation is voluntary. The

more producers who take part, how-

ever, the greater the chance of success

for the entire industry, Alves says.

“We have strong resources and

expertise in Ontario to reduce overall

disease levels in our industry, and we

believe that this collaborative ap-

proach to swine health management

can help give Ontario a competitive

advantage when it comes to animal

health,” he says.

The new PED plan consists of

guidelines for monitoring, testing

and evaluating key risk factors for

PED, with protocols to control and

eliminate the virus when and where

it is detected. Its four main elements

are surveillance, identification, elimi-

nation and confirmation of negative

status, and transport risk rating.

A key part of the plan is establish-

ing the current disease status of all

sites which have been PED positive,

and that’s where SHO has been able

to secure funding to assist producers.

OMAFRA will cover the cost of

initial diagnostic testing for suspect

clinical cases, and expenses for ad-

ditional testing, including confirming

PED status at related sites, can be

submitted to OSHAB.

Disease investigation of new cases

and development of a farm or system

elimination plan can also be reim-

bursed. In the case of farms that have

historically positive herds and are

planning to eliminate PED, funds for

limited testing to establish current

disease status are available. Diagnos-

tic costs to confirm PED elimination

can also be covered.

Producers are encouraged to

contact their veterinarian or SHO for

more information.

Alves says SHO shows how the

swine industry is coming together to

lead a challenging five-year plan to

keep Ontario’s swine health status

at a high level; more details will be

available in 2017.

Tools and resources for Swine

Health Ontario and the provincial

PED elimination strategy can be

found at

www.swinehealthontario.ca

or by calling 519-577-6742.

Swine Health Ontario is a leadership team

focused on improving and coordinating the

industry’s ability to prevent, prepare for and

respond to serious swine health threats in

Ontario. Coordinated, collaborative,

sustainable, responsive and prepared.

Group aims to establish PED elimination program

If the Swine Health Ontario initiative works, it could become the gold star for disease

management in the province.

by LILIAN SCHAER for SWINE HEALTH ONTARIO

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