Page 2 - Australian Pork Newspaper

Pig Industry Calendar of Events
2019
FEB 19 - 20 – EvokeAg ‘Food, Farm, Future’, Melbourne, VIC www. evokeag.com
MAR 9 - 12 – 50th AASV Annual Meeting, Florida, US www.aasv.org/ annmtg
MAY 19 - 21 – ONE19 Conference, Lexington, US www.one.alltech.com
JUN 5 - 7 – World Pork Expo, Iowa, US www.worldpork.org
JUN 12-13 – Australian Biosecurity Symposium, Gold Coast, QLD www. biosym.com.au
JUN 23-26 – International Symposium on Emerging and Remerging Pig Diseases, Santiago, Chile www. emerging2019.com/en
AUG 11 - 14 – The International Conference on Boar Semen Preservation, Hunter Valley, NSW www.boarsemen2019.com
AUG 25 - 28 – Asian Pig Veterinary Society Congress, Buscan, South Korea www.apvs2019.com/invit.html
AUG 26- 29 – SafePork Conference, Berlin, Germany www.safepork- conference.com
NOV 17 - 20 – Australasian Pig Science Association Conference, Adelaide, SA www.apsa.asn.au
How to supply event details: Send all details to Australian Pork Newspaper, PO Box 387, Cleveland, Qld 4163, call 07 3286 1833 fax: 07 3821 2637, email: ben@porknews.com.au
porknews.com.au
07 3286 1833
BIOSECURITY is at the top of everyone’s minds. This has been further
heightened following the recent advice from the Department of Agricul- ture and Water Resources that African swine fever was detected in six pork products from 86 seizures (152 samples in total) from both passenger lug- gage at international air- ports and mail processing centres.
Effective biosecurity starts at the farm gate.
A robust biosecurity program is a collection of measures that, when im- plemented, can minimise the risk of diseases being brought into your herd.
It will enable you to make changes to your management systems to reduce the introduction and spread of disease as well as prevent escape of disease from your farm.
There are many ways diseases can be intro- duced and/or spread on farm, which include pigs, semen, other animals, people, vehicles and equipment, air, feed and water.
The key actions to pre- venting disease being in- troduced on farm include:
1. Not feeding swill to pigs – swill includes food scraps, bakery waste, res- taurant waste, untreated used cooking oils and other food waste that con- tains or has come into contact with meat or meat products.
2. Preventing feral pig contact – ensure your pe- rimeter fences are main- tained and secure.
3. Quarantining new pigs before introducing them to the herd.
4. Not allowing staff or visitors to bring pork products on farm.
APL recommends all pig producers review their farm biosecurity plans and complete the Piggery Biosecurity Audit Check- list in the National Farm Biosecurity Manual for Pork Production.
This is available on the Farm Biosecurity website: farmbiosecuirty.com.au
An outbreak of African swine fever would be dis-
by HEATHER CHANNON Research and Innovation General Manager
astrous for the Australian pork industry as it would likely result in slaughter of many pigs and the im- mediate closure of mar- kets for Australian pork and pork products.
It would also be very costly and difficult to eradicate.
Feeding swill to wild pigs is believed to have caused the outbreak of African swine fever in Belgium in 2018.
It has been estimated that 62 percent of the African swine fever out- breaks in China since August 2018 have been caused by swill feeding of contaminated products to pigs.
It is essential pigs are not fed swill in order to prevent exotic disease.
If you are unsure what you can or can’t feed your pigs, please contact APL or ask your state or territory Department of Primary Industries repre- sentative for guidance.
Feral pigs continue to pose a threat to the Aus- tralian pork industry.
While most feral pigs live in remote areas, re- cent dry climate condi- tions have resulted in them covering much larg- er distances in search of food and increasing the likelihood of interactions with domestic pigs.
As feral pigs are able to breach security fenc- es of domestic pig units, disease can be spread through nose to nose con- tact.
To manage this risk, it is important to ensure all fencing is maintained and gates are checked daily.
Introducing live pigs into your herd presents a significant risk of disease.
This risk can be reduced
by introducing a quaran- tine period up to 10 weeks or maintaining a closed herd, which offers the best security against the intro- duction of disease.
To maintain a healthy herd, ensure high hygiene standards are in place and provide regular training sessions to staff to assist their understanding of the key elements of disease control as well as recogni- tion of clinical disease.
The health status of your herd should be constantly observed and if anything changes, notify your vet- erinarian immediately.
Constant surveillance of herd health status is important to attest Aus- tralia’s global reputation as being free of the pig diseases that adversely affect pig health, welfare
and production in other countries.
Evidence of this is be- ing sought through APL’s Evidence of Absence Surveillance Project be- ing managed by Animal Health Australia.
This project aims to de- rive evidence of absence of exotic pig disease to support the Department of Agriculture and Wa- ter Resources’ ability to substantiate Australia’s claims to a disease occur- rence status and support trade negotiations.
Pig veterinarians have been asked to work with producers and collect samples when they come across unusual disease symptoms.
This testing does not in- cur a fee.
Samples will be tested for: African swine fe- ver, classical swine fever, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, Aujeszky’s disease, por- cine teschovirus encepha- lomyelitis (formerly por- cine enterovirus encepha- lomyelitis) and swine cor- onaviruses, transmissible gastroenteritis and por- cine epidemic diarrhoea.
APL has also received a grant from DAWR, as
part of the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, to test animals for diseases not yet present in Australia.
This project has two components: i. A pro- ducer questionnaire to understand on-farm bio- security practices; and ii. Collection of blood sam- ples from healthy pigs at slaughter for ASF, PRRS, CSF and PEDV.
If you would like to know more about these projects or have any ques- tions about these two initiatives, please contact Lechelle van Breda on 02 6270 8816 or lechelle.van breda@australianpork. com.au
APL advises you to con- sult with your veterinar- ian regularly and contact them if you observe any unusual disease symp- toms.
Alternatively, call the Emergency Animal Dis- ease Watch hotline 1800 675 888 for more infor- mation.
For further informa- tion on any of the topics discussed, please do not hesitate to contact me on 0423 056 045 or heather. channon@australianpork. com.au
Biosecurity, biosecurity, biosecurity
SUMMER is upon us! Are you ready?
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Page 2 – Australian Pork Newspaper, February 2019 www.porknews.com.au
Aussie farmers fight back in face of radical anti-farm group intimidation
☛ from P1
ments has the potential
to spread bacteria and disease, which could impact the whole food chain, not to mention the trade implications.
“It’s important to re- member that farms are also family homes.”
Ms Simson said the NFF had called on Face- book to take the page down immediately.
The charitable status of the group must be retracted by the Austral- ian Charities and Not- for-Profits Commission.
Their business model is to openly flout Aus- tralia’s laws to under- mine farming and agri- culture in Australia.
“We have spoken with both the Minister and Shadow Minister for Agriculture, who have condemned the group’s behaviours and objec- tives,” Ms Simson said.
“I will also write to the police in each state and territory, alerting them to the ‘library’ of imagery on the Aussie Farms website, ques- tioning how the material
was collected.”
Ms Simson said the
NFF is seeking legal counsel on the implied link the map makes to the farmers represented and animal cruelty; and regarding any potential infringement of privacy and trespass laws.
“As a matter of prior- ity, we will be advocat- ing for laws that guaran- tee farmers’ freedom to farm,” she said.
“Laws that carry harsh penalties for those who seek to impede this free- dom.”