PigTRACE Canada Encourages Compliance with Mandatory Pig Movement Reporting

The Director of PigTRACE Canada says 2018 will see a stepped effort to encourage anyone not already reporting pig movements to begin doing so

By Bruce Cochrane – FarmScape Online

“For PigTRACE, 2018, we’re really looking at reaching out to producers for the first time, so if you’re not reporting movement, it’s a reminder to do so,” Jeff Clark, the Director of PigTRACE Canada, told FarmScape Online. “So then it becomes How can we help you? Because there are some changes coming to the federal regulations, mostly targeted at the other species, but it still offers us an opportunity to make some tweaks.

Clark added the reporting of all pig movement became mandatory in Canada in 2014.

“We also realize not everyone is technically literate, so we have other methods and we will be a little bit more proactive in that way.”

“I think we have good compliance with this program”

 

“The pig sector is the first in Canada to have a national traceability program with full traceability not just tags, but full movement reporting,” Clark added. “We’ve been doing it for almost four years so we want to improve the requirements, make it a little bit more practical for our industry. At the same time we want to remind everyone of the good benefits of doing it and starting to reach out and say if you’re not doing it already it’s time to start.”

Clark notes a number of changes are in the works for federal livestock movement reporting regulations as movement reporting becomes mandatory for additional species of livestock such as cattle, bison, sheep, goats and deer.

“We know how many farms are out there and we can see how many have reported in a period of time,” he said. “So if I had to give a number, I know roughly across Canada about 70 percent of all farms are reporting movements, but as a whole I’d say most of our big players are reporting.

“What’s really interesting is even the back yard hobby farmers are required to report. It’s much simpler for them because they’re only doing a few movements a year.

“But, by and large, I think we have good compliance with this program.”

For more information on mandatory pig movement reporting visit Pigtrace.ca

By Bruce Cochrane – FarmScape Online