The facilitator of the Western Canada PRRS-Free Herd Certification Pilot Project is confident the new program will benefit Canadian pork producers and the Canadian pork industry.
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome is a viral disease that affects pigs of all ages.
The Western Canada PRRS-Free Herd Certification Pilot Project, an initiative of the Canadian Swine Health Board, was designed by swine industry experts from across Canada including veterinarian’s, diagnosticians and scientists as a means for certifying swine premises to be free of the PRRS virus.
Program facilitator Dr. Leigh Rosengren says the certificate is to facilitate the sale of animals with a certain health status.
For individual producers the advantage will be to help them sell pigs.
Any producers who’s selling pigs other than direct to market may be able to capitalize on having a higher health status, be it that they’re selling breeding stock, semen or isoweans.
For an industry as a whole it’s going to help us put a value on health status and to take some of the uncertainty out of claims that producers often make when they’re selling pigs that they don’t have something.
So it’ll be much more clear cut what it means when people say they’re PRRS-free.
PRRS was selected for this certification program because it is the disease that is costing the swine industry the most money.
It’s been estimated to cost 1309 million dollars per year to the Canadian industry and so obviously being able to control this disease would be crucial.
The other reason PRRS was selected is because it’s a highly infectious disease and so, if we can develop programs that help us to control and address PRRS at an industry level, we’re very well set to address many of the other endemic diseases affecting pigs.
Swine premises across Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba that are free of the PRRS virus are eligible to participate.
Producers get more information on the Pilot Project by contacting their provincial pork office in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba or their veterinarian.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
