Feds Approve PED Vaccine for Import

Jan 30, 2014

After a meeting with provincial and territorial agricultural ministers, Federal Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz announced Wednesday that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will allow veterinarians to import a vaccine from the United States to deal with the pig-killing virus, porcine epidemic diarrhea or PED.

Thursday’s meeting was meant to address the growing concerns of PED. While the iPED + vaccine is new, preliminary studies have shown pigs that receive the vaccine develop antibodies against the virus. Harrisvaccines Inc. based in Ames, Iowa manufactures the vaccine.

PED is a highly contagious virus among swine, which has killed about 1 to 3 million pigs in the United States since last spring. The virus has since spread to Canada. The first confirmed case was found on a farm in Middlesex County, Ont.

“Today’s announcement is another step in the CFIA’s continuous efforts to work with the provinces to prevent PED from spreading in Canada,” Ritz said in a news release.

Government officials say that pig farmers should contact their attending veterinarian about accessing the vaccine. Veterinarians can apply for an import permit immediately.

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.