Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Now there are four

There are now four farms in Ontario that have outbreaks of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus.

Two are in Chatham-Kent, one in Middlesex and one in Norfolk counties.

The two in Chatham-Kent are weaner to finisher operations. The other two are farrow to finish operations.

The federal and provincial governments are teaming up to provide funding for biosecurity initiatives, such as developing on-farm composting and additional truck-cleaning, washing and disinfecting centres.

Ontario is also increasing sampling and testing for the virus and is implementing biosecurity measures at packing plants so trucks and truckers don't carry virus in manure back to farms.

The Ontario Pork marketing board and the Ontario Pork Industry Council have posted detailed biosecurity information on their websites and have hosted several telephone conferences which have involved hundreds of participants.

Veterinarians have provided up-to-date information and advice and producers have been able to ask questions.

The events of the past week confirm the warning veterinarians and leading industry officials have been sounding: that the virus is widespread in the United States and more likely to spread during the cold of winter.