Beijing | Reuters — China said Monday it is encouraging companies to build pig farms overseas to plug a severe domestic pork shortage after a worse-than-ever African swine fever slashed almost half of its pig herd. China has urged local authorities to support qualified domestic firms to “go out,” and build hog farming bases in […] Read more
China encourages firms to raise pigs overseas
Officials aim to plug domestic pork shortage
U.S. says it would ban pig shipments if swine fever detected
Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday it will prohibit shipments of all pigs for at least three days if the nation ever finds a case of a fatal hog disease that has ravaged China’s herd. The federal government is preparing to contain and eradicate African swine fever if it spreads […] Read more
Colombia cleared of foot-and-mouth
Country now aims to double meat exports
Bogota | Reuters — Colombia will look to double its meat exports now it has regained its status as a country free of foot-and-mouth disease, President Ivan Duque said on Thursday. Foot-and-mouth is a highly contagious viral disease found in animals and is one of the most serious to affect livestock, including cattle, sheep and […] Read more
‘Weak positive’ PED turns up in Alberta sample
A “weak positive” finding of the porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus from ongoing sampling in Alberta offers a warning that the hog disease may not have yet left the province alone. The chief provincial veterinarian’s office (OCPV) on Monday reported that the agriculture department’s lab in Edmonton on Jan. 22 found a weak PED positive […] Read more
No turkeys, pigs, goats: U.S. to let airlines limit service animals
Miniature horses still up for discussion
Washington | Reuters — The U.S. Transportation Department on Wednesday proposed giving airlines the power to bar emotional support animals from cabins and limit the definition of a service animal to a trained dog. The proposed new rules are aimed at preventing passengers from falsely claiming their pets are service animals aboard U.S. airline flights. […] Read more
VIDO-InterVac joins swine fever fight
The University of Saskatchewan’s vaccine research and development arm is set to become Canada’s first non-government agency to work with the African swine fever virus. Saskatoon-based Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization-International Vaccine Centre (VIDO-InterVac) will start work with the virus this month at its Containment Level 3-Agriculture (CL3-Ag) facility, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency said […] Read more
African swine fever spreads near German border
Paris | Reuters — Poland recorded 55 outbreaks of African swine fever in wild boar near the German border last month, the world animal health body said on Thursday, in a sign the deadly virus is spreading near one of the European Union’s biggest pork exporters. A report posted on the World Organization for Animal […] Read more
Alberta Pork celebrates 50 years — and looks back at many, many changes
It’s almost easier to ask what hasn’t changed in the pork sector in the last half-century
Reading Time: 4 minutes The changes just keep on coming as the organization representing Alberta’s pork producers marks its 50th birthday. The industry has been transformed again and again since Alberta Pork was formed in 1969, said executive director Darcy Fitzgerald. The top one is the number of producers. “We used to have a lot of farms with few […] Read more
No country immune to risk of African swine fever spreading: OIE
Paris | Reuters – African swine fever will spread further across Asia where it has devastated herds, and no country is immune from being hit by the deadly animal virus, the head of the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said on Wednesday. The disease, which has hit the world’s top pork producer China hard, […] Read more
African swine fever: It’s not the ‘lazy’ virus — it’s unthinking people
African swine fever is spreading like wildfire in Asia, but it’s because people are bringing contaminated pork home
Reading Time: 6 minutes African swine fever continues to cut a devastating swath across Asia as North American pork industry officials work to keep the deadly disease off our shores. “The African swine fever virus is spreading very quickly throughout the Southeast Asia region,” Dr. Egan Brockhoff, veterinary counsellor for the Canadian Pork Council said in a Sept. 20 […] Read more
Cyber-Savvy Farmer
