Inspectors in the
United States have been spotting lesions that look like foot and mouth disease
on shipments of sows from Canadian farms.
The symptoms
turned out to be Seneca Valley virus, which is relatively harmless.
However, the
symptoms set off alarm bells and disrupted operations at packing plants, so the
Canadian Pork Council is asking Canadian hog farmers to be more careful about
Seneca Valley virus.
More
specifically, it is asking farmers to maintain a closer watch for symptoms and
to avoid shipping any pigs with those symptoms.
The
United States Department of Agriculture recently informed the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency that 13 sows from Canada, shipped in six different lots, had lesions.
Two loads were refused entry at the border the next day.
Dr. Egan
Brockhoff, the Veterinary Counsel with the Canadian Pork Council, says, while
foreign animal disease tests ruled out Foot and Mouth Disease, Seneca Valley
Virus was identified.
He advises farmers to “look for signs
of lameness, look for signs of redness around the snout and around the mouth,
pigs going off feed.
“If we can prevent those pigs from
getting loaded, then we can prevent these disruptions in market and transport
and so on and so forth.
“At this time we really want pork
producers just to be aware of what the clinical signs are,” he said in an
interview with Bruce Cochrane of Farmscape.
