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 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

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