The Chair of Manitoba Pork says containing an outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea that struck the southeastern part of the province one year ago is an example of all stakeholders coming together in a concerted effort for the successful handling of a bad situation.
An outbreak of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea identified in southeastern Manitoba identified last April peaked in June and July before tapering off with the last cases reported last October.
George Matheson, the Chair of Manitoba Pork, told those on hand last week for Manitoba Pork’s 2018 Annual General Meeting, the control of PED remains an important issue and, because the sector exports so much pork, biosecurity will always be foremost on the minds of producers.
We did have 80 cases by mid-summer which we never imagined would happen to us. At its peak we were getting two or three news cases every day but that’s where it stopped and, since then, we’ve been winning the battle. We have 60 of the sites now presumed negative.
It’s been a great concerted effort from all faucets of the industry and, I hate to say it, it’s success of a bad situation. It was a lesson of how we can pull together and coordinate an effort to get real good results in the end.
~ George Matheson, Manitoba Pork
Matheson says the concerted effort was key starting with the Chief Veterinarian’s Office and then Manitoba Pork Council became involved, creating a new position of Swine Health Director. He says it was a case of meeting regularly, working together and covering all facets of the case to put a halt to it and get things cleaned up.
