The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board reports a positive response to a new program which will allow suppliers of breeding stock and semen to certify their herds are free of PRRS.
The Western Canada PRRS-Free Herd Certification Pilot Project, an initiative of the Canadian Swine Health Board, provides a protocol under which suppliers of pigs or semen are able to certify the stock they sell is free of Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome.
Swine operations in western Canada and, in some cases, Ontario that are presumed free of PRRS and that do not vaccinate for PRRS are eligible to participate.
Saskatchewan Pork Development Board producers services manager Harvey Wagner reports we have herds enrolled in Saskatchewan and Alberta right now, herds from Manitoba are expected to enroll shortly and we may have a some herds enrolled from Ontario.
From a producer side there’s been a fair bit of interest, particularly from the people who are selling live breeding animals and semen.
They see a benefit to this to bolster their product and say, yes we have this and here’s the process that we’re doing, we’re recognized as not having any PRRS in any of the animals or semen that we sell.
There’s also some interest from people who are selling breeding stock or feeder pigs to different farmers so they also have the ability to say we don’t have PRRS in our animals and we have done the work.
There’s been a lot of interest at the technical level and at the veterinary community level.
They see this as being quite a unique project that’s looking to do something that’s not really ever been done before so it’s being quite watched.
The lessons learned from this project will be applied to a number of different disease certification processes as we move forward.
Producers interested in participating in the Western Canada PRRS-Free Herd Certification Pilot Project are encouraged to contact their producer services representative in Alberta, Saskatchewan or Manitoba.
Source: Farmscape.Ca
