The Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network says the software that allows swine veterinarians to share information on emerging disease issues also serves to ensure individual farms are not identifiable.
The Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network, a Canadian Swine Health Board initiative, was created to help swine veterinarians share information on disease issues developing in their regions.
Project manager Dr. Egan Brockhoff explains the Swine Database System software that powers CSHIN is used by practicing swine veterinarians who have agreed to participate in the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network.
This software is an online program, SDS, allows them to collect the health intelligence information that we want from every farm visits.
It’s practicing veterinarians filling in a little questionnaire that takes them about three minutes to do online on the health of seven different animal types within the barn, sows, boars, gilts, piglets, all the way to grow finish and the veterinarian fills in what percentage in each animal type might be coughing, what percentage might have loose stool.
That information is collected through their SDS tool and then it is uploaded nightly into the Canadian Swine Health Intelligence Network server.
That server processes the information and then the next morning the information is sent back out to the practicing veterinarian.
Each practice has their own tool.
0I can’t see the tool from another swine veterinary practice.
Confidentiality is kept between practices and then none of the farm information is sent up.
The farm’s identity is kept conferential as well.
Dr. Brockhoff says this is a highly secure network based in Canada and operated in Canada and the oversight is a producer based oversight group with the Canadian Swine Health Board.
