Farmscape for May 15, 2018

The Office of Manitoba's Chief Veterinary Officer says strategies implemented in June and July of last year to eradicate PED may have resulted in reduced pork production in late 2017 and early 2018.
All but three of the 80 swine herds infected during a 2017 PEDv outbreak that hit Manitoba have now reached presumptive negative or are transitioning to presumptive negative.
Dr. Glen Duizer, an Animal Health Surveillance Veterinarian with the Office of Manitoba's Chief Veterinary Officer, told a PEDv Telephone Town Hall last week, says a drop in processing in the last quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018 might be linked to eradiation efforts in mid-2017.

Clip- Dr. Glen Duizer-Manitoba Agriculture:
Some recent work that we've done with ag economists and some marketing folks although we haven't verified this.
We haven't really identified the number of pigs that were impacted by the eradication strategies that were implemented in particular on sows herds to deal with PED but the initial scoping out of that, there has been a drop in finisher pigs going to slaughter through the last part of 2017, so December of 2017 and into this first quarter.
It may still be a coincidence or a correlation without causation how ever it is interesting to note that the drop that was seen in pigs going to slaughter in Manitoba is fairly close to the estimated loss in production that we estimate across the sow herds during the peak of the outbreak in late June and early July.

Dr. Duizer says the target is the end of this month to get most if not all of the remaining herds on to presumptive negative but he acknowledges things might go beyond the end of May.
For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork