Saskatchewan Pork Producers Respond to Call to Establish Site-Specific On-Farm Emergency Response Plans

The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board reports approximately half of the province's pork producers have taken steps to create site-specific on-farm emergency response plans. To improve the ability of Saskatchewan's pork producers to respond to a foreign animal disease outbreak or any other emergency that would require mass destruction of animals, Sask Pork in partnership with the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and the Animal Health Emergency Management project released a mass euthanasia and disposal producer guide, hosted both in person and online workshops and provided financial assistance for the development of site-specific on-farm emergency response plans.

Saskatchewan Pork Development Board Producers Services Manager Karolina Steinerova says we can think of an emergency response plan as a step-by-step guide prepared in advance.

Clip-Karolina Steinerova-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:

If an emergency happens and we are not prepared, we might not act to our best ability to handle the situation effectively.The most common and realistic example relevant to the swine industry will be a disease outbreak.Most of us think about African Swine fever as the most threatening disease for the industry.

Canada is free of African Swine Fever but it's important to realise that, even if we have one case, the swine industry is negatively impacted and emergency plans would be the tool to quickly get the disease under control in the affected premise and protect the whole swine industry.We can think about an emergency response plan as a step-by-step guide that we prepare in advance when we have time to set priorities.

We must realise that emergency situations, for example disease outbreaks, are emotionally demanding situations and if an emergency happens and we are not prepared we might not act to our best of our ability to handle the situation effectively.Having such an emergency plan requires more work up front but really makes our lives easier when we need to handle emergencies quickly and effectively.

Steinerova says, from January to the end of March, 68 emergency plans were submitted representing  roughly 50 percent of the swine production sites in the province.