Time to Develop On-Farm Emergency Response Plan is Before an Emergency Occurs

A Disease Surveillance Veterinarian with Saskatchewan Agriculture says the time to prepare for an emergency, such as an accident, a natural disaster or a disease outbreak, is before an emergency occurs.Last week, to encourage the development of on-farm emergency response plans, the Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture and the Animal Health Emergency Management Project hosted an online workshop.

Dr. Wendy Wilkins, a Disease Surveillance Veterinarian with Saskatchewan Agriculture, explains an on-farm emergency response plan provides a roadmap for those responding to a crisis such as a natural disaster, a disease outbreak or other type of emergency.

Quote-Dr. Wendy Wilkins-Saskatchewan Agriculture:

For the pork sector specifically, we know that there is a heavy reliance on export markets and animals are constantly being moved off farm for shipping.
In the event of an emergency, especially a disease outbreak, those export channels could be shut down temporarily and this leaves producers with a backlog of animals that can not be shipped.

That kind of disruption creates some serious challenges, animal welfare concerns, feed shortages and increased work loads. The plan outlines how to handle animal care, feed management and if necessary humane euthanasia and carcass disposal if it comes to that and it also covers the equipment and personnel need to carry out these actions successfully.

While euthanasia and disposal do occur on farms from time to time normally, handling these processes on a large scale requires significant additional planning and preparation. The best time to create an emergency plan is before an emergency happens so when a disaster or a disease outbreak does occur producers will be ready.

They're going to be under extreme pressure at the time. Making critical animal welfare decisions on the spot can be overwhelming so, without a solid plan in place, important aspects of both the human and the animal welfare could be missed.That's why we encourage not just pork producers but all livestock producers to develop, review and update their emergency response plans during peacetime so that when an emergency does strike, they're ready to act quickly and effectively.

For information or assistance in creating an on-farm response emergency plan producers can contact the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture, Sask Pork or there herd veterinarian.