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Pastures looking good

Many cattle were turned out to pasture earlier than normal this year.

Melissa Atchison is vice president of Manitoba Beef Producers.

"There wasn't a lot of a choice. You were either out of seed or you scrounged some up from far away but the feed pile is definitely gone and there's certainly not a lot of reserves going into next year. It's a first year for many folks not having a reserve pile going into the carry over for the winter. There was some cows going out maybe perhaps before the pastures were ready but desperate times call for desperate measures."

Atchison says pastures are looking good this year, although some of the low lying areas are still under water.

She commented on how forage crops are looking.

"Pretty good actually. The alfalfa is coming up nicely. Had a bit of a frost...It did touch some things here and there. The alfalfa looks a little bit curled up and a bit of winterkill on some of that alfalfa actually. It was a bit stressed last year with the drought, obviously. Forage crops are coming up good. We could just use some more heat...we actually could use a little bit of rain."

Atchison notes it's good to see dugouts topped up after the drought last year.

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U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan | Made by Producers for Producers

Video: U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan | Made by Producers for Producers

Join Jill Brokaw, a third-generation pig farmer and staff member of the National Pork Board, as she dives into the vital role of the US Swine Health Improvement Plan, also known as US SHIP. The program establishes a national playbook of standards for monitoring African swine fever and classical swine fever.

Why Should Pork Producers Care? If a disease breaks out, officials will establish a control area to help contain the disease. This plan is designed to mitigate risk and demonstrate freedom of disease at the site level. The goal is to support business continuity outside of the control area in case of an outbreak.

How Will the Pork Industry Use US SHIP? US SHIP uses already existing programs to support the standards for biosecurity, traceability and disease surveillance.

Biosecurity: This plan uses your completed Secure Pork Supply plan to demonstrate compliance with the biosecurity program standards and shows your ability to reduce the risk of disease introduction.

Traceability: AgView can be used to demonstrate compliance with the traceability standards and the ability to electronically provide State and Federal agencies the traceability information they need to determine where disease is and isn’t.

Disease Surveillance: The Certified Swine Sampler Collector Program helps expand the number of people certified to take samples. In the event of a large-scale foreign animal disease outbreak, we will need a trained group of sample collectors to help animal health officials find where the disease is present. This is to help you demonstrate freedom of disease and support the permitted movement of animals.

Getting Started with US SHIP:

1. Enroll in U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan

2. Share 30 days of movement data

3. Have a completed Secure Pork Supply Plan

4. Become U.S. SHIP certified

5. Maintain communication with your state

Takeaway: U.S. Swine Health Improvement Plan helps safeguard animal health. Together, we're creating a sustainable future for pork production in the United States and taking steps to strengthen the business of U.S. pork producers everywhere