The quality assurance coordinator with Alberta Pork expects the majority of the province's pork producers to participate in a new biocontainment plan being developed in response to PED.
While biosecurity is considered the first line of defense in stopping diseases before they enter the farm, Alberta Pork expects to begin circulating a new PED biocontainment plan within the next 2 to 3 weeks to pork producers and veterinarians that will be triggered in the event Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea is identified.
Javier Bahamon, the quality assurance coordinator with Alberta Pork, says producers have been highly supportive of initiatives designed to protect herd health.
Javier Bahamon-Alberta Pork:
They are really thinking forward on the different steps that we can do to protect the herds and to protect our industry.
For now we have been able to produce 4 different biosecurity assessments, which the involvement is around 95 to 96 percent across Alberta.
With this one I will think that they are willing to do it as they have the other plans available for them and they are already enjoying that program.
This one is going to be kind of on that same scenario, so protecting the herd and protecting and having an action plan to combat any kind of disease that are threats for the Alberta herd.
I think it's going to be a very successful plan and we will roll these to all pork producers across Alberta and I think we are going to cover 100 percent of our herd on this new plan that we have in our hands.
Bahamon expects the plan to be ready for release within the next two to three weeks with adoption to occur over the next year.
Source: Farmscape