Wean to Harvest Biosecurity to be Developed to Help Contain Swine Disease Movement

Sep 26, 2022

A planned Wean to Harvest Biosecurity program offers to help contain the spread of swine disease causing pathogens.The Swine Health Information Center, the Foundation for Food and Agricultural Research and the National Pork Board have partnered to set parameters for a new Wean to Harvest Biosecurity program.

SHIC Executive Director Dr. Paul Sundberg says it has become clear that infected finishing floors, whether that's with PRRS, PED or it could be with the next emerging disease, can serve as a nidus of infection for the breeding herd.

Clip-Dr. Paul Sundberg-Swine Health Information Center:

We're working on three areas in this.One is the transportation biosecurity.We don't have the infrastructure necessary to be able to clean, disinfect and dry every trailer that comes from packing plants or first points of concentration before they go back to the farm.

So, we're looking for cost effective and innovative ways that we may be able to disinfect trailers and help to prevent transfer of pathogens from those first points of concentration to finishing floors, grow-finish sites, nurseries, those types of things.

The second area that we're focussed on is this idea of nurseries, grow to finish or finishing sites themselves.
In biosecurity we have two pathways that we have to pay attention to.One is bioexclusion.

Keeping disease off of the farm is bioexclusion, excluding them from on the farm themselves.Also, we want to investigate biocontainment.

That's the idea that, if you break with a disease on a site, if you're able to contain that disease on the site and prevent it from spreading to other sites, that will help to contain the disease and work its way out.

Dr. Sundberg says the objective is to develop a call for proposals that can be sent out in October.

Source : Farmscape.ca

Video: You Be The Judge: Evaluating 8 Breeding Rams!

It's time for some honest feedback here at Ewetopia Farms! Today, we’re showing you all eight rams we used for breeding this year. Instead of just presenting them, we thought it would be fun to create a “Ram Report Card” — where we point out both their strengths and areas for improvement.

But here’s the twist: you be the judge! In the comments, let us know what you like about each ram and what you think could be improved. No ram is ever perfect, but every one of them brings something valuable to the flock. By sharing perspectives, we all learn more about what to look for in good breeding stock.

At Ewetopia Farms, we raise registered Suffolk and Polled Dorset sheep, focusing on high-quality genetics, structure, and friendly temperaments. Evaluating breeding rams is part of the bigger picture of building stronger flocks — and we’re excited to share the process with you.

If you enjoy seeing how we evaluate our animals, follow along by subscribing to our channel. We share daily insights into the joys and challenges of sheep farming here in Canada.