Farmscape for February 7, 2019

A swine veterinarian with Prairie Swine Health Services says the federal government is responding to the risks posed by African Swine Fever.
African Swine Fever: Current Status and Biosecurity Strategies for Producers was among the topics discussed yesterday as part of the 2019 Manitoba Swine Seminar.
Dr. Egan Brockhoff, a Doctor. of Veterinary Medicine with Prairie Swine Health Services, says the federal government is aware of the risks to North America posed by the spread of African Swine Fever throughout China and Europe and is responding.

Clip-Dr. Egan Brockhoff-Prairie Swine Health Services:
I've been really impressed with how responsive the government of Canada has been.
They recognize that this will have a horrendous impact on the Canadian economy, on Canadian jobs, on families, their farms and on the animals in those farms.
They recognize that and they have been working very close with us to understand the risks and put in mitigation.
The government continues to work with us on traveler initiatives, making sure that travelers are aware, handing out fines.
Let's not just give people warnings, lets hand out some fines and so they've been doing that.
You've seen a large social media campaign come out.
That's been very useful and informative, in multiple different languages.
We've talked a lot about feed ingredients and the things we can do from a producer point of view but also what's the things that the government can do.
The government has to reach out to the brokers, to the importers, identify them, explain to them what these risks are and talk to them, potentially enforce action like time and temperature, making them hold ingredients at 20 degrees Celsius for 20 days to kill virus.

Dr. Brockhoff notes the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has identified a list of feed importers, what they are bringing in and where and discussions are happening aimed at determining what actions can be taken to reduce the risks.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork