Saskatchewan Pork Producers Encouraged to Develop On-Farm Emergency Response Plans

An Alberta based animal care and livestock handling specialist is encouraging pork producers to be aware of how to respond in the event mass euthanization of livestock on their farms becomes necessary. To encourage the development of On-Farm Emergency Response Plans, the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board is offering the province's pork producers an 800 dollar per premises incentive and, in partnership with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and the Animal Health Emergency Management Project, hosting an online workshop tomorrow from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Jennifer Woods, an animal care and livestock handling specialist with J. Woods Livestock Services, says when dealing with a situation that requires euthanasia, such as a barn fire, a transport vehicle accident or a disease outbreak, it's important for everyone involved to know what to do and who to contact.

Quote-Jennifer Woods-J. Woods Livestock Services:

In cases where you're going to have to do a large amount of animals, you're probably going  to have to get help from other people, other producers or government so anybody who is involved needs to be aware of the plan and how it's implemented. You need somebody to oversee welfare. Welfare is a big part of this, so we want to ensure good welfare.

We're looking at human safety also. We want to make sure that everybody is safe when they're doing this.You can deal with fatigue, you can deal with emotional issues involved so there's many layers to this and there needs to be a certain amount of planning that goes in ahead of time so when something happens you are ready to respond, you know who to call, you know who has euthanasia equipment you're going to need, you know where you're going to dispose of the animals afterword, how many people you're going to need.

There's a big difference if you are euthanizing 50 animals but if you have to euthanize five thousand pigs you're going to need a lot of help. So, it's people on the handling side, the euthanasia side, the movement of animals side, the disposal of animals.There's a lot of layers to this that people don't understand until they're faced with it.

For details on tomorrow's workshop or to register contact Sask Pork at 306 244-7752.