By Bruce Cochrane
A Red Deer based swine veterinarian is encouraging Alberta's pork producers to develop farm specific biocontainment plans as soon as possible.
Last month Alberta Pork introduced the Alberta Pork Biocontainment Plan Program, which provides participating producers $600 to allow them to work with their herd veterinarians, to develop biocontainment plans tailored for their specific farms.
Dr. Kurt Preugschas, with Red Deer based Innovative Veterinary Services, says the hope is that the biocontainment plan will never be triggered.
Dr. Kurt Preugschas-Innovative Veterinary Services:
Producers need to work with their herd veterinarian to develop their farm specific biocontainment plan.
The biocontainment plan goes hand in hand with the biosecurity self assessment that Alberta Pork currently has in place.
Continued focus on external biosecurity is critical and this doesn't take away from that.
Identify and minimize your farm's key areas of biosecurity risk through the Alberta Pork Biosecurity Assessment with your veterinarian.
I recommend personally that an annual biosecurity audit is done with your herd veterinarian to prevent any disease introduction onto your farm so that the biocontainment plans that we develop do not need to be put into action.
The goal of these biocontainment plans is not to be used so, if we can continue to exclude diseases from our farms, that is ultimately the best case scenario.
The goal of this program is to have as many producers as possible develop these plans to provide the most safety to the Alberta pork industry.
An early diagnosis is a critical step for any biocontainment plan.
Don't wait for an emergency.
Make your biocontainment plan as soon as possible.
We all know that, if you have a plan, the emergency situation can be dealt with much easier than if you're flying by the seat of your pants in that moment.
Dr. Preugschas says open communication and collaboration among all stakeholders is critical to the long term viability of the industry.
source: farmscape