Successful Disease Control Highlights 2017 and Remains Priority in 2018

Retiring Director and Sask Pork past-Chair Florian Possberg says the success of steps taken by the province’s producers and their equipment, and service providers to protect the Saskatchewan swine herd from disease were among the highlights of 2017. And those efforts will remain a key focus moving into 2018

by Bruce Cochrane for FarmScape Online

Despite the ongoing threat posed by Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea in the United States and in other province’s, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia have remained free of the disease.

“I think Manitoba, particularly the southeast part of the province still is dealing with PED and PRRS,” Possberg said during a recent FarmScape Online interview. “They are still optimistic that they can eradicate the PED.”

“Hopefully we can continue to be an area where PEDv is not weighing down our production”

 

“I think, if you go south of the border though, we hear that there’s new virulent strains of PRRS that are affecting their herds and PED is something where they’ve almost given up trying to eradicate so they have decided just to live with it,” Possberg stated. “Those are significant realities for those major hog producing areas.”

Possberg adds Saskatchewan has always benefitted from having a very healthy swine herd and, in 2017, while there were some nasty disease challenges in other regions, particularly PED and PRRS to the east and to the south, Saskatchewan producers heightened biosecurity and were fortunate to avoid any major disease issues.

“Hopefully we can continue to be an area, our whole province, where those things aren’t weighing down our production.”

Possberg remains confident in the potential of livestock production in Saskatchewan.

He suggests the ability to control disease remains one of the pillars of the pork sector’s ability to thrive.