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 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

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