Farmscape for October 24, 2016

Financial assistance being made available to Saskatchewan pork producers will help ensure euthanasia is carried out in as timely and humane a manner as possible.
The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, in partnership with the Governments of Canada and Saskatchewan, is offering up to $4,000 through the Saskatchewan Swine Welfare Program to help Saskatchewan pork producers purchase or upgrade needle free injection equipment or purchase euthanasia equipment.
Sask Pork Producer Services Manager Harvey Wagner says euthanasia is one of the more challenging jobs when raising any type livestock.

Clip-Harvey Wagner-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
The Code of Practice has a number of categories of types of acceptable euthanasia and they vary depending on the size of the animal.
Things like blunt force trauma is a normal practice, but only for small pigs.
Electrocution can be used for certain classes of pigs, that would be the medium size pigs, gas for small pigs, that would be CO2 or Argon and then non penetrating captive bolt which is somewhat more acceptable for small pigs and then, for bigger animals, a penetrating captive bolt.
A gunshot is also acceptable but very dangerous.
What we wanted to do is expand the range of capabilities on the farm to use the proper type of euthanasia equipment depending upon the size of the animal and to make it a little easier for the people to do.
When a method of euthanasia is gruesome or difficult people shy away from doing it and probably don't do it in a timely manner.
We want to make sure the tools are there to do it in a timely manner, in a good way so that the pig has as good a death as possible and that the people can accommodate to that as well.

Wagner notes, applications under the program will be processed on a first received basis so later applications may not qualify for assistance.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork