Thursday, April 10, 2014

Another PED outbreak

Another finisher barn has had an outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Virus, this one in Huron County.

Dr. Doug McDougald is predicting that up to 100 barns could come down with the virus because of lax biosecurity.

Apparently two “loops” have not been thoroughly cleaning, washing, disinfecting and drying their trucks.

While they may think they are not threatening anybody else, that’s not true because their infected pigs and vehicles travel to packing plants and then there is a high risk of cross-contamination that will carry the virus into barns where hog farmers are trying hard to keep clean.


So far the province has shown no indication that it is prepared to declare PED serious enough to require regulation similar to outbreaks of a foreign animal disease.

I guess Wynne and her cabinet members are too busy announcing spending to bother trying to save the Ontario pork industry.