The Rural Voice, 2019-04, Page 65Any opinions expressed herein may
not necessarily reflect the views of
the Perth County Pork Producers’
Association.
If you are not reporting the
movement of your pigs, what are you
waiting for? It has been mandatory to
report the movement of pigs, dead or
alive, onto or off of your farm since
July of 2014. If you fail to accurately
report the movement of your pigs
within a week of the movement, you
could be fined up to $1,300 for a first
offence. To keep everyone honest,
and make our traceability system
credible, your pig suppliers and pig
buyers are required to report these
corresponding movements separately.
This makes it very easy for the CFIA
to find farms who are not reporting
their movements. Traceability is one
of the pillars of the Canadian Pork
Excellence program that is to be
implemented across the country over
the next three years. If you do not
have a record of your pig movements,
your farm will not be certified under
this program, and federally inspected
packing plants will not buy your pigs.
However, these sticks are not the best
reason to spend 15 minutes per week
reporting your movements. The threat
of African Swine Fever, a foreign
animal disease that would shut down
our export markets if found in
Canada, is the latest and grimmest
reason to start reporting your pig
movements.
To emphasize the impact that a
foreign animal disease (FAD) can
have in the absence of a robust
traceability system, let’s look at what
happened to the Canadian Beef
Industry starting in May of 2003
when a case of Mad Cow Disease
was reported. Immediately 40
countries closed their borders to our
beef and cattle. In November of 2004
BMO reported that cattle producers
had lost $5 billion since the crisis
began. From the beginning of the
Crisis until the middle of 2005, the
government gave the industry over
$2.5 billion in compensation. The
border to the U.S. partially opened
and closed two times, finally opening
again in July of 2005, over two years
after the crisis had begun.
Reporting your movements is all
about being able to trace the origin of
an animal from the packing plant, or
the assembly yard where a problem is
identified, all the way back to where
the pig was born. The faster the
source of a FAD case can be
identified and eliminated, the sooner
our export markets can re-open and
business can return to normal.
Reporting your pig movements to the
Pig Trace database allows this trace-
back process to take minutes instead
of days. But the benefit of this system
is only as good as the percentage of
pig movements that are reported. We
need our trading partners to be able to
trust our traceability system so that if
there is a FAD outbreak in Western
Canada, we have records to show that
this will not affect Eastern Canada
allowing pork to be exported from
unaffected regions. If we look at the
pattern of PED outbreaks across
Canada, we can see that this is the
case, but the documentation of the
Pig Trace database is critical to prove
this to our trading partners.
This zoning of quarantine is still
being negotiated with the World
Organization for Animal Health and
our trading partners. Right now, you
are in the same boat as every other
pork producer in Canada. The
Canadian Pork Excellence program
(CPE) is enforcing a high standard
for pork production that mitigates or
eliminates most risks, including FAD.
This program ensures your customers
and fellow producers that you are
taking all the steps necessary to
produce safe, secure, nutritious pork.
Don’t let your neighbour, who isn’t
following CPE protocols climb into
the boat, by using your premise ID so
his child can send his pig to the fair.
We need to ensure that backyard
production stays out of our federally
inspected plants. Don’t let a trailer of
pigs leave your farm without
knowing the premise ID of the
destination. Don’t accept a trailer of
pigs without knowing the premise ID
of where they came from. We are all
being held to the same standard in
case of an FAD outbreak, we need to
hold each other to a higher standard.
Ensuring Canada has a robust
traceability system is up to you. All
of the infrastructure to report your pig
movements is in place, waiting for
you to use it. If you already know
your user name and password, you
can go to https://pigtrace.
traceability.ca/login Unfortunately
the pigtrace.ca homepage has not
been working since August, so if you
need help getting set up to report your
movements, call Ontario Pork at
1-877-668-7675. ◊
Sources:
https://globalnews.ca/news/1830438/
timeline-canadas-2003-mad-cow-
disease-crisis/
https://lois-laws.justice.gc.ca/eng/
regulations/SOR-2000-187/page-
1.html
https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/
regulations/C.R.C.,_c._296/page-
22.html#h-113
– Submitted by Craig Hulshof,
President, Perth County Pork
Producers Association
Perth, Huron,
Grey and Bruce
Craig Hulshof, President
craig.hulshof@gmail.com / 519-301-8483
* The Rural Voice is provided to
Perth County Pork Producers by the PCPPA
perthcountyporkproducers@gmail.comCounty Pork Producers NEWSLETTER
Please report your pig movements!
APRIL 2019 61
PERTH COUNTY
PORK PRODUCERS
PORK PRODUCTS
• Smoked Pork Chop • Fresh Pork Chops
• Stuffed Loin Chops • Smoked Sausage
• Smoked Cheddar Sausage
• Bacon Burgers • Teriyaki Pork Steaks
Have the Perth County Pork Producers BBQ at
your next event or celebration! Phone Jerry
DeGroot 519-393-5237 for more information.
AVAILABLE FROM:
Dave and Ruth Kloostra (Monkton).. 519-347-2619
Ted and Donna Keller (Mitchell)........519-348-9836
Jerry and Sandra DeGroot (Kinkora) 519-393-5237
Leis Feed (Milverton)..........................519-595-2048