The Canadian Swine Health Board reports the success of its National Biosecurity Training Program is attracting international interest.
The National Biosecurity Training Program, developed by the Canadian Swine Health Board and delivered by the provincial pork organizations, was discussed last week as part of the International Pig Veterinary Society Congress in Jeju, South Korea.
The training covers the ways disease can infect swine herds and the practices that will minimize the risk of transmission.
Canadian Swine Health Board chair Florian Possberg says interest among Canadian producers has exceeded expectations.
The National Biosecurity Training Program was developed out of something the Canadian Swine Health Board did a couple of years ago and that’s set standards for good biosecurity for pig farms.
In some provinces where we signed up early we’ve had as high as 95 percent participation.
Some provinces are in the process of getting their producers engaged and, even at that, they would be 50 percent or better.
We originally thought that if we could get 75 percent of the producers in Canada engaged in this biosecurity update that would be a mark of success.
We’re now thinking that we can probably get beyond 80, maybe even 85 percent of our producers so that’s really quite impressive for a program to be rolled out and be picked up that quickly across Canada.
Possberg says, following the IPVS Congress presentation, several countries expressed an interest in getting more information on the Canadian program.
He says the training was developed first and foremost for Canadian producers but if we can reduce the threat of disease in the hog population in general that’s a good thing.
