By Bruce Cochrane.
The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board reports producer involvement in Saskatchewan in the Canadian Swine Health Board's National Biosecurity Training Program has been extraordinary.
The National Biosecurity Training Program, based on the National Farm Level Biosecurity Standard developed by the Canadian Swine Health Board, was launched in Saskatchewan in January.
So far 13 training sessions have been held in Saskatchewan and two more are planned.
Harvey Wagner, the producer services manager with the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, says approximately 140 of the 159 farms in the province eligible for the training have participated in the program and he anticipates 95 percent of the farms in Saskatchewan will have taken the training by the time the program wraps up.
Harvey Wagner-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
Manitoba
Saskatchewan
Full Interview
A lot of our farms are very high health status right now and biosecurity on a lot of our farms is probably better than the national average.
That's kind of driven by the fact that we have five breeding stock companies in here that have their base high health herds in Saskatchewan and so they contribute an awful lot to the mindset of improving the health status of herds, getting clean stock and keeping your stock clean.
We also have a number of extraordinary veterinarians that focus on maintaining high health herds and doing what they can to improve the health of their clients' farms.
So a combination of factors but forward thinking producers, high quality genetic stock suppliers and great veterinarians all contribute to an extraordinary level of adoption of a program like this.
Wagner says every farm has risks to biosecurity and, just because Saskatchewan has huge separation distances compared to most parts of the world, that doesn't mean you can relax your biosecurity.
He says maintaining a clean herd takes a lot of effort but many farms have been quite successful.