Farmscape for November 25, 2016

Steve's Livestock Transport says, in response to the growing risk of disease transmission during transport, procedures and technologies have change and there's been a greater emphasis placed on training.
Biosecurity in the Livestock Transport Industry was among the topics discussed last week as part of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2016 in Saskatoon.
Bill Rempel, the Vice-President Operations with Steve's Livestock Transport, says when ordering new equipment the first priority is animal welfare so the first consideration is is there changes that can be made that will improve the welfare of the animal and the second is biosecurity so is there fewer nooks and crannies, open piping or anything that will affect cross contamination and factors that will affect the ease of washing.

Clip-Bill Rempel-Steve's Livestock Transport:
The risk is so high and the cost is so high so the impact it has to the producer is very significant.
If there's a transfer of a disease through the transportation through a biosecurity breach, the farms are so big the financial impact is so big.
I think over the years the farms have changed so from smaller farms to fewer farms but that are much bigger so when an outbreak does happen the impact is that much greater.
And the changes in the disease so there is new and emerging diseases that have come up and, in the last few years, the focus has been on the PED virus.
So the procedures have changed, the technology has changed and also the people and the training aspect.
The biggest thing is the training.
We invest a lot more time and energy on the training component and also technology has changed.
Over the last eight years and over the last two years, from washing to drying to high heat, drying or baking, those are all new things that have been out in the last few years.

Rempel says the primary focus of Steve's Livestock Transport is to bring value to the company's customers.
He says bringing value will enhance the success of customers, employees, the community in which Steve's does business and stakeholders.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork