7 Story Idea? Contact Paul.Nolan@Farms.com Better Pork | August 2024 EXPERT ROUNDTABLE biosecurity as a means of excluding disease from the barn.” Even the most stringent measures can fail to stave off pathogens, as evidenced by the impact of Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) in Canada. In response, the federal government provided $482,158 in funding in 2020 for a two-year risk management pilot project run by the Manitoba Pork Council. It was aimed at helping pork producers recover from the damage wreaked by disease outbreaks such as PED. “We have gone through the development phase on this, which involved a lot of statistics and mathematics to assess risks and design a program in response,” says Dahl. “We now have a package that could be commercialized for producers, so it comes down to whether we can roll it out in an affordable manner. That question is still open at this point, but we’re hopeful.” Addressing bio-insecurity As Dahl noted, biosecurity is the ultimate means of reducing risk, and swine veterinarians would agree. “Biosecurity remains the most powerful vaccine we have,” says Dr. Egan Brockhoff, veterinary counselor for the Canadian Pork Council (CPC). “We have updated the national biosecurity standards in Canada to reflect new knowledge and understanding of pig disease. Science continues to evolve in its grasp of how pathogens emerge or reemerge. Viruses rarely sit still, as they are constantly changing, and those changes bring new insights into contamination and risk pathways.” Today, ever-evolving technology is making biosecurity more effective than ever. “The most advanced option we have today is probably Farm Health Guardian,” says Brockhoff. “It is a biosecurity software system – developed in Canada – that protects against diseases like PRRS (Porcine Respiratory and Reproductive Syndrome). The system allows farmers to monitor their transportation routes and movement of people on and off the premises in a precise manner.” Then there is facial recognition software that controls entry to restricted access zones of pig barns. Especially at larger operations that employ hundreds of workers, it can minimize the risk of people breaching the wrong area by mistake. 3-D cameras are another innovation that help monitor pig behavior and help with early disease recognition. “Some barns in Canada now deploy SoundTalks as well,” says Brockhoff. “It uses microphones hung throughout the barn to detect respiratory disease much earlier than traditional methods.” In some ways, the approach to biosecurity in Canada is becoming more nuanced, with herd veterinarians counselling farms on specific measures to fight PRRS or PED, for example. At the same time, there are certain principles and ‘low hanging fruit’ that should always be top of mind. “Direct movement of animals leads to direct movement of disease, and the same applies to semen and embryos,” says Brockhoff. “The next greatest risk comes from animal transports that are improperly disinfected.” Other aspects that require vigilance include the movement of people and supplies in and out of barns, and the potential for pathogen transmission through feed and water. In spite of all the tips, warnings and technology, even the most stringent biosecurity measures will be ineffective with anything less than full compliance on-farm. Consequently, industry is focused on understanding compliance and the roadblocks involved. “The No. 1 challenge to proper biosecurity is being able to implement protocols and have everyone buy in and follow through on them,” says Brockhoff. In short, people need to focus on CRAFT, which stands for Compliance, Recommendations, Acceptance, and Succession planning allows families to create clarity for the future. Farm & Food Care photo Egan Brockhoff
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