Trucking is Biggest PED Threat
Ontario's hog industry is on high alert to keep Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus out of the country, and truckers and their rigs are the high-risk priority.
During a conference call, Dr. Doug McDougald of the Ontario Swine Health Advisory Board said Ontario has taken a clear lead on the issue and he wishes all provinces would follow because "there are literally hundreds of (hog-hauling) trucks crossing the border across Canada."
He said the disease is now "endemic" across the U.S., meaning that it's likely to spread to every region in the near future and Canadians need to assume that any truck contacting hogs or hog facilities in the U.S. will be contaminated.
It means that hog farmers need to make sure that any hog-hauling truck that comes on their farm has been washed, disinfected and dried before it comes on the property.
And the cleaning needs to be done at a Canadian facility because McDougald said the U.S. scrape-out centres and wash bays are contaminated and risk spreading, not stopping, the virus.
He said Ontario truckers have taken hogs to 15 U.S. packing plants and none of them have changed or stepped up their bio-security measures since PED was first identified in Iowa early last summer.
It has now been confirmed on 1,151 U.S. farms in 19 states with Iowa and North Carolina the hot spots.
When the virus strikes a herd, piglet losses are ranging up to 100 per cent and the disease continues to take a toll for about five weeks. Feeding sows remains of diseased pigs works to develop immunities.
The virus shows up as watery diarrhea and spreads like wildfire. It can attack any age of pig. In Ontario, hog farmers are asked to immediately report any suspicious symptoms to their veterinarian and Ontario's veterinarians are working in close communications to get lab results within hours from Guelph and then to react if PED is confirmed.
While they're waiting for test results, hog farmers are asked to make a record of every person who has recently been on their farm, any trucks that have hauled hogs and where they have gone. That's information that will be used to determine whether PED has spread anywhere.
As soon as there is confirmation of PED, veterinarians across Canada will be informed and then veterinarians in the U.S. That's all swine practitioners, government and university vets.
McDougald is heading a team that has contacted all 22 Ontario hog truckers who take pigs to the U.S., has made sure they know what bio-security measures they need to be taking and has provided all truckers with bio-security kits, such as disposable footwear coverings and special bright clothing.
The three assembly yards for culls and market hogs going to the U.S. are being closely monitored. Dedicated load-out chutes and trailers are being used to keep U.S. equipment and facilities separated.
The team is checking trucks, trailers and drivers to ensure bio-security, using PRRS as the measuring device. There is so much PRRS in Ontario that most trucks hauling hogs to the U.S. will be contaminated with that virus, so checking on their return for PRRS will indicate whether an adequate job of scraping, washing, disinfecting and drying has been done.
One of the most effective measures hog farmers can take is to clean, wash and disinfect any vehicle that they use to transport pigs, said one of the team members. •
– By Jim Romahn