Pork producers in Saskatchewan are monitoring what appears to be an increase in reproductive diseases in other parts of North America and taking steps to keep those infections out of their herds.

Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome or PRRS, an infection which causes reproductive failure, pneumonia and increased susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection, was first identified in the United States in 1987.

Florian Possberg, a partner with Polar Pork, says Saskatchewan and Alberta have basically eliminated PRRS from their herds but we are seeing a resurgence of the infection in other areas.

 “For what ever reason this fall in the pig dense areas there has been a new mutation of PRRS that is really very significantly devastating some of the herds”

 

 

“In pig dense areas, the U.S. Midwest and some parts of Ontario and southeastern Manitoba where there’s quite a density of hogs there’s these flare-ups in a semi-regular seasonal type of thing.

 

“The Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome was fairly quiet for about the last 18 months, two years and we saw productivity of the sow herd increase at a higher-than-normal rate which tends to bring more pigs to market and reduce our prices.

 

“For what ever reason this fall in the pig dense areas there has been a new mutation of PRRS that is really very significantly devastating some of the herds that have been infecting.

 

“Baby pigs that are weaned are sold into the finishing market. Last year the USDA price for baby pigs, three-and-a-half-week-old pigs, was about 37 dollars.

 

“Last week it was 80 dollars U.S. so the price of baby pigs has gone up rather substantially because enough of these sow herds have had reproductive failure that there’s really a shortage to fill the finishing barns in the Midwest.“

 

Possberg says Saskatchewan’s pork producers take biosecurity seriously and have been quite successful in keeping these serious infections out of the province.