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Farmscape for October 30, 2024

Two research projects approved through the Swine Health Information Center's Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program will focus on reducing the risk of swine transport vehicle contamination at hog processing plants and at deadstock disposal sites.
The Swine Health Information Center’s Wean-to-Harvest Biosecurity Research Program, funded in collaboration with the Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research and Pork Checkoff, has approved funding for research intended to help improve transport vehicle biosecurity where the transport trailer interfaces with the harvest facility and at the deadstock disposal site.
SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says two projects will be conducted by the University of Minnesota.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
The first project is quantifying trailer contamination rates at the harvest plant interface.
The goal of this project is to gather and analyze data on viral contamination rates in trailers and this will be looking at a 12-month period over time at the plant interface.
It's going to assess the rates of PED, PRRS and Senaca Valey Virus and the goal is to understand what are the epidemiology factors related to trailers and unloading for the ability to either increase or decrease contamination rates, to understand what happens at that interface and then determine what are things that we can do to mitigate those risks.
The second project is going to be assessing viral contamination of mortality disposal structures at wean to harvest farms.
It's going to describe what the current procedures are for disposal and assess viral contamination in the environment around those containers but also to assess what is happening at these disposal structures such as compost and dead box and to detect and test what could be a decontamination strategy.
Again, the goal is to help identify risks and to develop a strategy to mitigate those risks.

Dr. Becton says the two projects will be conducted over a 12 month span to take into account seasonal changes and how those changes can drive the risk of disease introduction.
Information on this work can be found at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for October 31, 2024

Saskatchewan Agriculture reports the province's farmers are disappointed with this year's crops but relieved that things weren't worse.
Saskatchewan Agriculture released its final crop report of the season yesterday.
Tyce Masich, a Crops Extension Specialist with Saskatchewan Agriculture, says producers were able to get their crops off well before the heavy frosts set in.

Quote-Tyce Masich-Saskatchewan Agriculture:
Starting in May when producers were seeing it was very cool and wet so there were some seeding delays and also the early season cool temperatures specifically delayed crop development in the first two months of the growing season, which wasn't great for crops but the moisture did allow them to be well established for the lack of moisture in July and August that we saw.
In July and August there were hot and dry conditions throughout most of Saskatchewan which really hurt the early season yield potential that producers were expecting.
Early season, with all of the moisture that we had, there were more reports of early season root rot in crops which hurt crop establishment early in the season and then, as the season progressed and things got warmer and drier, that's when the grasshoppers really came out and started to feed on crops.
I know in the west and southwest producers were spraying for grasshoppers specifically and in areas of the province that would have gotten rainfall in the beginning July when canola was full canopy there were a lot of producers spraying for sclerotinia stem rot and there were some reports of sclerotinia stem rot in Saskatchewan but I think overall it had a pretty minimal impact on yields this year.
The biggest thing was the hot conditions in July really heat blasted a lot of canola which would have resulted in most of the yield loss for canola and other crops as well.

Masich says yields for most crops in Saskatchewan were slightly above average with the exceptions of crops like canola and mustard that were slightly below average but, given the dry years we've had the past couple of years, growers are happy with that.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 1, 2024

The Communications and Marketing Coordinator with Sask Pork says the 47th edition of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium will provide an opportunity for pork producers to learn the latest in research and technology development, to interact with government officials and industry leaders and to network.
The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board's Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2024 is scheduled for Saskatoon Tuesday and Wednesday.
Sask Pork Communications and Marketing Coordinator Steve Seto says the symposium focusses on fostering an environment that supports sustainability, efficiency and profitability.

Quote-Steve Seto-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
The symposium is our annual event where many of our producers come to Saskatoon for two days.
It does give our producers a great opportunity to talk with industry leaders.
Water quality is probably going to be a big one, just making sure that the water quality up to par.
The changes to the Code of practice with the Canadian pork Council will probably be discussed.
Funding and government grants, I assume will be a big talking point between producers and some of the government officials that will be there.
Always trying to make things more sustainable and efficient and helping our producers be profitable is kind of our main goal every year, making sure the industry is very strong going forward.
Those are going to be some of the key highlights but it's also a great opportunity to just talk and network not only with other producers but industry leaders.
We've been doing it now for 47 years and it's a really good opportunity for people to come together.

Anyone interested in learning more about or registering for Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2024 can do so through the Sask Pork website at saskpork.com.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 4, 2024

An animal science professor with Colorado State University suggests, when it comes to health and welfare, aggression and animal handling, genetics is a key factor to consider.
"Pig Handling and Welfare" will highlight day one of Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2024, set for tomorrow and Wednesday Saskatoon.
Dr. Temple Grandin, an animal science professor with Colorado State University, says, while animal handling has improved dramatically over the past 40 years, one factor that plays a role is genetics.

Quote-Dr. Temple Grandin-Colorado State University:
I'm getting more and more concerned about both pigs and cattle that have things like foot and leg confirmation issues which makes them lame and that's going to make them difficult to handle.
There are some pigs and some cattle that have really bad foot and leg confirmation and it makes the animal lame.
Where we're having a problem is with some of the babies.
Right now, in cattle there's problems in certain parts of North America with congestive heart failure and lameness that's conformational, that's genetic and that's just pushing for meat traits.
It's gotten worse in the last 10 years in cattle.
Hopefully that's not happening to the pigs but I think foot and leg conformation is something that needs to be considered in any of these animals because we tend to indiscriminately breed for meat traits, you often end up breeding for bad feet and legs.
Some lines of lean pigs are very nasty about fighting and that’s not going to work in group housing.
You have to get the right pig.
I just read some research which I'm a bit concerned about where you get a pig that's really gentle, her piglets aren't as robust and strong.
That's not good, so you've got to find the right balance of genetics where we get a sow that doesn't fight a whole lot but she still breeds strong robust piglets.

For full details on Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2024 can be found at SaskPork.com.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 5, 2024

The Saskatchewan Research Chair in Feed Processing Technology says the biggest challenge with including high levels of pea starch in swine rations is the issue of flow.
An increased use of pea protein in products such as artificial meats and protein bars has resulted in an increased availability of pea starch for use as a lower cost energy source in swine rations.
However, the small particle size of pea starch raises concerns over the possibility of ulcers in pigs and it has a tendency to plug up feeding systems.
Dr. Rex Newkirk, an associate professor with the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Research Chair in Feed Processing Technology responsible for the Canadian Feed Research Centre, says researchers have included pea starch in rations at up to 40 percent with no impact on performance but the flow issue is a limiting factor.

Quote-Dr. Rex Newkirk-University of Saskatchewan:
Pea starch, because of the process it goes through, is an exceedingly fine material.
It kind of flows like water when it flows so what that means from a practical handling perspective is pea starch by itself flows like water.
Put pea starch in a mash diet and it basically sets up in a way that it doesn't move as a mass.
For us that's been the major handling issue is, how do you get this material to handle through the plant, what form can it be in so it can be more easily managed.
From a growth perspective, we've fed up to 40 percent and didn't see any impact on growth so I'm fine with it from a growth perspective but, from a handling perspective, especially if you're feeding a mash diet, I'd probably stick to 10 percent or less.
We've done 20 percent and it was OK but I think there was already signs that you could get hanging up in the bin and stuff so my recommendation would be 10 percent inclusion in a mash diet.
If it's a pelleted diet, I think you have more room.
You could get to 20 percent as long as it will handle through your plant and into the pellet mill well.
Or you could even go higher levels, as long as the flow within your plant getting to the pellet mill is fine.
That's usually where we find some issues.
If we get too high levels, the conveyance systems don't work the way they should.
My recommendation would be 10 percent in a mash diet and 20 percent in a pelleted diet.

Dr. Newkirk says various options for addressing the flow issue are being explored including pelleting, extrusion and using canola meal as a compatible source of protein.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 6, 2024

Research conducted by Iowa State University shows tongue tip fluids collected from stillborn and dead piglets can be used to accurately detect the presence of the virus responsible for PRRS.
With the goal of improving the diagnostic value of tongue tips for PRRS surveillance, an Iowa State University study funded through the Swine Health Information Center, evaluated four different sample collection protocols across 597 tongue tips from stillborn and dead piglets.
SHIC Associate Director Dr. Lisa Becton says this is a relatively easy to use type of sample that's being assessed to determine its accuracy for detecting disease in swine.

Quote-Dr. Lisa Becton-Swine Health Information Center:
The key findings really showed that virus isolation of PRRS can be done from tongue tip fluids.
This is important because, up until this time, it had not been proven that this could happen so verifying that the virus isolation can be done is important because that helps to specifically determine if live virus is present in samples that are collected, not just the presence of the RNA.
It's also important because it does provide a way to evaluate different sample protocols and then determine which of those really are the best suited for the best diagnostic outcomes.
Those things are very important, especially when we're looking at newer sample types to provide veterinarians and producers a way to have confidence in utilization of these alternative sample types.
This information will be utilized and shared both with producers and veterinarians because a lot of times people are looking at what are different ways that are relatively labour friendly to be able to collect samples to assess disease status on their farms and tongue tip fluids were one of those samples that was identified as needing investigation so it was important to have research on this to be able to come up with production protocols that can be used for this sample type.

Dr. Becton acknowledges diagnostic tests can be costly so you want to optimize the diagnostic results from the samples submitted to the lab by understanding the protocols to follow when collecting those samples.
Full results of the study can be found at swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 7, 2024

Animal health officials are responding to the first case of a pig in the United States testing positive for high path H5N1 avian influenza.
On October 30th USDA confirmed that the first detection in a pig of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza had occurred on a small backyard mixed farm in Oregon that housed poultry, swine, sheep and goats.
Swine Health Information Center Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder notes the investigation was triggered when birds on the farm started showing clinical signs of infection.

Quote-Dr. Megan Niederwerder-Swine Health Information Center:
We know that H5N1 is a specific highly pathogenic avian influenza strain that has really increased with regards to circulation over the last two years.
This is primarily maintained in migratory waterfowl but the virus has spilled over into other mammalian species such as seals and sea lions as well as domestic livestock including dairy cattle, first detected in March of 2024 and now in the first pig in October of 2024.
These pigs that were housed on this farm, there were five pigs, none of these animals were intended for the commercial food supply.
Pork continues to be safe for consumption.
There is no concern about the safety of the nation's pork supply as a result of this finding.
The other aspect of this detection is that none of the pigs that were housed on the operation, including the one that was found to be infected, had any clinical signs.
They were completely healthy so this could indicate a low pathogenicity in pigs.
We're still learning about that.
Only a single pig has been shown to be infected so there's a lot to learn about the potential risk to the swine industry.

Dr. Niederwerder encourages pork producers to review their biosecurity procedures focussing on areas where workers or equipment may be exposed to both dairy farms and pig farms or poultry farms and pig farms.
To keep up to date on the situation visit swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium Audio Special for November 7, 2024

Ken Engele, the Manager of Knowledge Transfer with the Prairie Swine Centre, discusses “Taking Care of Basics-Measuring On-Farm Best Management Practices.”
Runs 6:31
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/engele-241105.mp3

Dr. Temple Grandin, an Animal Science Professor with Colorado State University, facilitates “A Discussion on Pig Handling and Welfare.”
Runs 13:08
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/grandin-241105.mp3

Dr. Martyna Lagoda, a Post Doctoral Fellow with the University of Saskatchewan, discusses “Advancing swine welfare practices to empower your industry: Outcomes and future directions from the NSERC Chair in Swine Welfare.”
Runs 8:00
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/lagoda-241105.mp3

Dr. Raj Sharma, a Post Doctoral Research Fellow with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln “Enhancing the future of pork production with new technology.”
Runs 10:25
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/sharma-241105.mp3

Dr. Brad Chappell, the Director of Veterinary Services with Topigs Norsvin Canada, discusses “Biosecurity-Back to Basics.”
Runs 5:01
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/chappell-241105.mp3

Dr. Bobbie Lundquist, the Emergency Preparedness Director with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, discusses “ASF Preparedness,, Zoning and Zoning Arrangements.”
Runs 9:08
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/lundquist-241105.mp3

Stephen Heckbert, the Executive Director of the Canadian Pork Council, discusses “Changes to Canada’s Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Pigs.”
Runs 9:54
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/heckbert-241106.mp3

Kevin Grier, with Kevin Grier Marketing and Consulting, discusses “the Competitive Status of the Canadian Pork Industry.”
Runs 5:07
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/grier-241106.mp3

Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor with Dalhousie University, discusses “Navigating the Maze: Agri-Food Trends and their Impact on the Pork Industry.”
Runs 9:14
https://fsaudio.farmscape.com/2024/11/charlebois-241106.mp3

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 8, 2024

The Swine Health Information Center is inviting pork sector stakeholders to provide their input into its annual plan or work planning process.
Each year, as part of its mission to protect and enhance the health of the U.S. swine herd by minimising the impact of emerging disease threats, the Swine Health Information Center reevaluates its activities and research priorities.
SHIC Executive Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder says stakeholders are invited to provide their input to help identify the greatest needs, the greatest emerging disease risks and where activities should be focussed in 2025.

Quote-Dr. Megan Niederwerder-Swine Health Information Center:
Our five strategic priorities are to improve swine health information, to monitor and mitigate risk to swine health, to respond to emerging diseases, to conduct surveillance and discovery of emerging diseases and then to prioritise swine disease risk through our disease matrices.
We look at those five strategic priorities, we start to look at allocation of budget and resources then we have a series of stakeholder meetings that occur throughout the fall.
This includes pork producers, veterinary diagnosticians, swine health researchers, pork producer state organizations, swine veterinarians and other industry stakeholders that can help us to identify those emerging disease risks and priorities that should be included on the 2025 plan.
After the conclusion of the stakeholder listening sessions, we take those research priorities and ideas that have been generated to the two Swine Health Information Center working groups.
This working groups assist us in helping to prioritise each of the research topics with regards to how they help us to build a SHIC mission.
We then take those prioritised ideas and research objectives to the SHIC Board of Directors who help review and revise and ultimately approve the plan of work for the upcoming year.

Dr. Niederwerder says the goal is publish the plan by the end of the year to inform stakeholders of upcoming activities and outline research priorities to enable researchers to submit proposals to address those priorities.
To provide feedback visit swinehealth.org.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 8, 2024

An Animal Science Professor with Colorado State University says the handling of livestock and the understanding of animal behavior have improved dramatically since the 1990s.
"Pig Handling and Welfare" was the focus of the day one keynote address at Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2024, held this week in Saskatoon.
Dr. Temple Grandin, an animal science professor with Colorado State University, says there is a much greater awareness of the benefits of superior stockmanship.

Quote-Dr. Temple Grandin-Colorado State University:
One thing that's really good is handling has improved.
That's the good news but also attitudes toward welfare have changed.
I started out in the 70s and was the livestock chairman for a group called LCI, Livestock Conservation Institute.
It was a livestock organization and they had committees on preventing death losses in pigs, reducing bruises in cattle.
It all had to do with economic losses.
Then, when I first started out working with cattle, I emphasized how I could improve the economics.
Nobody at that point was even talking about welfare then gradually things got more interested in welfare.
Maybe 20 years ago there was a lot videos put out showing really horrible handling, really bad stuff, pitchfork in the milking parlor, knocking dairy cows over with a forklift, beating pigs with gate rods as hard as they could beat them, just really bad things and that started a lot of the things on handling.
I did work with McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy's in 1999 on inspecting pork and beef slaughter plants and it was very interesting taking high executives out and when they saw something really bad it was a true undercover boss moment.
They realized that there were things that we did have to fix but that kind of stuff's not going on now.
It took a long  time for a lot of people to accept that pigs and other animals feel pain.
Now the big emphasis has gone from, you've got to prevent suffering.

Dr. Grandin suggests by measuring and scoring handling, including such factors such as slips and falls, electric prod use, body condition score, lameness, vocalization you can tell whether you're getting better or worse.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 11, 2024

Research underway the Canadian Feed Research Centre is examining the role feed ingredient particle size plays in triggering ulcers in pigs and the impact of those ulcers on health and performance.
Because of its extremely small particle size pea starch, a byproduct of the extraction of protein from yellow peas to make products like protein bars, has been found to increase the susceptibility of pigs to ulcers when included in rations.
In response to an increased availability of pea starch, researchers are evaluating processing methods, including pelleting and extrusion, to address that challenge.
Dr. Rex Newkirk, an associate professor with the University of Saskatchewan and Saskatchewan Research Chair in Feed Processing Technology responsible for the Canadian Feed Research Centre, says ulcers are more common than realised.

Quote-Dr. Rex Newkirk-University of Saskatchewan:
If we grind the food more fully we get an increase in digestibility, it takes less feed to produce the same amount of meat and so we do grind to a certain level but if we get too fine it causes ulcers in the stomach.
We've known that for a long time.
So, we've added up to 40 percent and we were pleased in that we didn't see major changes in ulcers but what was a bit concerning to us is we did see ulcers, even in the control diet so, it wasn't like we've seen no ulcers without pea starch and ulcers with.
We've seen ulcers in all of our diets for the most part and they were just slightly worse with the pea starch.
But, I see these pigs and they're completely happy and growing and fine so I'm a bit confused as to how much to make out of the ulcers.
I don't want anything have an ulcer but they seem to be growing, they seem to be doing really well.
Where I do have a concern with the ulcers is, maybe under ideal conditions they will do fine and we're seeing the performance is great stuff but what if there's one other stressor, two other stressors.
What if there's some disease in the barn?
What if you have a feed outage and that's one of the things we've studied.
If you have too high a levels of pea starch, could it plug up in your feeders?
Yes.
And could you have some short-term outages and that would then contribute to more severe ulcers?
This we do know, so I think that our goal should be the healthiest pigs possible and I think part of that is managing the particle size in our diets.

Dr. Newkirk says lately researchers have been looking more at course versus fine diets to better understand the physiology.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 12, 2024

A Guelph based hog market analyst is forecasting a modest increase in Canadian pork production in 2025 and higher prices.
“The Competitive Status of the Canadian Pork Industry,” was the topic of a keynote address last week at Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium 2024 in Saskatoon.
Kevin Grier, with Kevin Grier Market Analysis and Consulting, says Canada is the sixth largest pork producer in the world but the fourth largest exporter so, as the old saying goes, it punches above its weight.

Quote-Kevin Grier-Kevin Grier Market Analysis and Consulting:
In terms of the outlook for 2025 I'm expecting, based on the last Hogs and Pigs Report, to have a modest increase in production in 2025.
We have less beef because of where we are at in the cattle cycle and we're going to have less beef next year and the year after that so pork should be able to make competitive gains in the meat case or on the menu at restaurants so, in some respects, the pork industry is probably hoping that pork can gain market share at the expense of beef.
We still will be aggressive exporters and I'm hoping to see, for the sake of the industry, improved demand in 2025 because of the beef situation so we should have more production.
But, probably and hopefully for the sake of producers, we should see an increased price in 2025 compared to 2024.
Again, part of our keys is the fact that we are a low-cost producer at the farm level.
According to data from InterPIG, Canada is always among the lowest cost producers in the world, a little bit higher cost than Brazil or the United States, but always right there among the most competitive in terms of producer production costs.
We may not be a low-cost producer at the packer level but we compete in other ways, through increased quality specifications, service, that sort of thing so from the farm to the packer we are competitive industry and that's how we compete, on costs but also on service and quality.

Grier invites any interested to contact him at kevingrier.com to request a three-month trial subscription to his Canadian Pork Market Report.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

Farmscape for November 13, 2024

A professor with Dalhousie University suggests Canada will need to work with the United States under the new Donald Trump administration to ensure benefits to Canadian agriculture.
“Navigating the Maze: Agri-Food Trends and their Impact on the Pork Industry” was among the topics discussed last week in Saskatoon as part of Saskatchewan pork Industry Symposium 2024.
Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, a professor with Dalhousie University, says Canada followed the United States in terms of food inflation but Canada is now higher, the result of Canada's own food policies.

Quote-Dr. Sylvain Charlebois-Dalhousie University:
Dairy, meat are pushing food inflation higher and they're all pretty domestic.
That's why, during my talk I really focused a lot on the concept of competitiveness, because I don't think that right now that we're helping agriculture.
We're just making agriculture more expensive so farmers are struggling.
Right now, things are good for the pork industry but they're not going to remain the same so we've got to be ready for that and, with America becoming even more competitive under a Trump regime, we're going to have to follow.
I know there's a lot of rhetoric around tariffs and things like that.
I don't pay a whole lot of attention to that.
I think what's most important is the fact that we do have an American administration looking at deals, looking for deals.
Donald Trump is very transactional.
He's very predictable and so I think we need to capitalize on that as much as possible.
But I do think that the world is likely going to get more interesting as a result of what we're seeing in Washington and that's going to probably benefit Canada over time.
But we've got to be in lock step with the Americans.
We can't just be at odds with them.
We're at odds with India, with China.
The last thing we want is to be at odds with the Americans.

To access Dr. Charlebois's work google "Agri-Food Analytics Lab, Dalhousie University."
He notes all of the reports are available in both French and English at no charge.
For more visit Farmscape.Ca.
Bruce Cochrane.

       *Farmscape is produced on behalf of North America’s pork producers

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