From the Editor
 “Producer
nets $300 but costs the country 10.6 billion dollars”
A producer calls you because the mortality in the last fill of
the finisher barn is higher than expected. He describes some
neurological signs that sound like Streptococcus suis (Strep
suis). The producer puts penicillin in the water. Three days later,
mortality has risen dramatically and you visit the herd. What you
see is NOT Strep suis. But what is it? Affected pigs have purple
discolouration of the ears and abdomens. A few pigs are weak and
stumble when they walk. Many pigs are thin and depressed. No pigs
are convulsing. Is it a porcine circovirus associated disease or
salmonellosis, or is it a foreign animal disease? You call the
government veterinarians and begin the process of making a
diagnosis.
A scenario such as this was presented at a recent swine-industry
foreign animal disease workshop in Ontario. The government
regulators told us that the farm would not be under an enforced
depopulation or movement control until the diagnosis was made. If
pig movement is stopped, it will be entirely voluntary. At the
start of the workshop, each participant was given an assigned
table. Mine was the table considering welfare issues. The person
representing the humane societies began the discussion by
exclaiming “That will never happen! That producer will sell
all his pigs!” Is that your gut reaction? Will one producer
forgo a profit to save the industry?
The 2001 outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United
Kingdom, when 6.5 million animals were slaughtered, cost the
country the equivalent of 10.6 billion dollars.1 The
disease spread widely across the country through animal movement
before a diagnosis was made. In 1997, hog cholera infected pigs in
the Netherlands.2 When word spread of the impending
stop-movement order, pig farmers initiated the “night of
lights.” This was when pigs were moved and sold through the
night so that farmers could collect the profit they felt they
deserved. This movement is blamed for the fact that the outbreak
lasted more than a year. At least 429 farms were infected and more
than 10 million hogs were destroyed. The first message of the
workshop was that pigs cannot be moved when there is a suspicion of
a foreign animal disease. What if the disease is a PCVAD? What if
your recommendation costs the producer $300 or $3000? There is a
risk of this happening, but the risk to the industry is much
bigger.
The welfare implications of a foreign animal disease are
immense. It is devastating to the people involved as well as to the
animals. If the pigs test positive for a foreign animal disease,
they will be humanely slaughtered and the producer will be
compensated for the pigs. On other farms, where the pigs do not
test positive, but where pigs cannot be moved off the farm, the
situation is different. These farmers will not be compensated for
their pigs. However, if you cannot move the pigs off the farm, they
eventually have to be humanely slaughtered. You can understand the
driving force behind the night of lights. There will be no space
for the pigs as they grow and no space for the new pigs being born.
Most farms will likely experience overcrowded pigs. There will be
no market for pigs and therefore no income for the farmer and no
money to pay for food. Many pigs will likely experience poor
welfare before humane slaughter occurs.
In the scenario presented at the workshop, it took 17 days for
the positive hog cholera diagnosis to be made. At that point,
either the disease had been contained or it had spread widely
across the country. If it is contained, the disease will likely
devastate the industry for a couple of years. If it is widespread,
the industry will never recover.
The swine-industry foreign animal disease workshop pointed out
obvious flaws in our current system. If we are to hope to contain a
foreign animal disease, we must build a solid communication system.
We need premise and movement identification and a telephone hotline
to alert the whole industry when there is a potential problem. Who
would you call? Who would call you? Veterinarians are logically key
people in the control and management of a foreign animal
disease.
However, for me, the loudest message was that voluntary
stop-movement recommendations must be followed. We as veterinarians
all have to do our part to convince farmers that they have to forgo
the $300 profit to save their country the 10.6 billion dollar hit.
How will you spread the message? Will you make it part of your next
routine herd health visit? Can you convince your producers to forgo
the $300?
References
1. On This Day. January 14, 2006. 2002: UK declared free of
foot-and-mouth. Available at: http:news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/january/14/newsid_4121000/4121785.stm.
Accessed 28 Mar 2007.
2. National Hog Farmer. 2007. Lessons from the Netherlands.
Available at: http:nationalhogfarmer.com/mag/farming_lessons_netherlands/.
Accessed 28 Mar 2007.
-- Cate Dewey
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