Farmscape for July 12, 2018

The Chair of Swine Innovation Porc says the development of new alternatives to the use of antibiotics will be among the top research priorities over the next five years under the Swine Cluster 3 Research Program.
The Swine Cluster 3 Research Program, a five year 18.5 million dollar research initiative funded by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in partnership with the pork sector through the new Canadian Agricultural Partnership, was officially launched last month.
Stewart Cressman, the Chair of Swine Innovation Porc, says one of the first priorities under the new program is to look at alternatives to antibiotics.

Clip-Stewart Cressman-Swine Innovation Porc:
Antimicrobial resistance is a concern to the general public and to the industry.
There's no sense buying antibiotics for the treatment of a disease and it isn't effective at the farm.
Then if the potential is, which is still being determined, but the potential is that you can have some of that transmitted to humans.
We know it's increasing in terms of humans, antimicrobial resistance from a variety of causes, so it just makes sense for us that reducing the use of antibiotics is important.
There's different methods that we've identified and one the areas of study this time that we've put a high priority is looking at the gut microflora, referred to as the microbiome, and seeing if there's ways we can manage or alter that to make the pig more resistant to disease.
Or maybe not resistant but maybe the better term is robust in the face of disease so that, instead of requiring treatment. they can thrive in the face of disease or recover from disease quicker.

Cressman notes there's new science available that will assist in furthering antimicrobial stewardship within the pork sector.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork