Arabian Days
Food safe New health guidelines for community dinners » PG 3
Brandon hosts a national Arabian horse show » PG 15
SERVING MANITOBA FARMERS SINCE 1925 | Vol. 74, No. 35 | $1.75
september 1, 2016
KAP, APAS seek meeting with Transport Minister Marc Garneau Consultations on amending the transportation act end Sept. 16 and farm leaders say the minister needs to hear directly from farmers
manitobacooperator.ca
PEDv vaccine on horizon but biosecurity still key A PEDv vaccine, field tested during the recent Manitoba outbreak, still needs to be registered in Canada
BY ALLAN DAWSON Co-operator staff
W
hen the then newly elected Liberal gove r n m ent promised further consultation on changes to the Canada Transportation Act, farm groups reacted with relief. Now that relief is turning to frustration and worry. Neither the Keystone Agricultural Producers (KAP), Manitoba’s general farm organization, nor the Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan, have met with Transport Minister Marc Gar neau, even though he pledged to consult farmers. Even worse, says APAS head Norm Hall, it appears officials advising Garneau don’t even realize farmers are being overlooked.
Veterinary researchers are currently testing a new vaccine against PEDv that was developed at the University of Saskatchewan. PHOTO: THINKSTOCK
See KAP on page 6 »
BY SHANNON VANRAES Co-operator staff
Publication Mail Agreement 40069240
C
anadian pork producers are one step closer to having a powerful new tool in the fight against porcine epidemic diarrhea. A vaccine developed by the Vaccine and Infectious Disease OrganizationInternational Vaccine Centre, also known as VIDO-InterVac, at the University of Saskatchewan has entered its final phase of testing. But while the vaccine is a much needed firewall for Prairie pork producers, Andrew Dickson of the Manitoba Pork Council cautions the vaccine won’t be a panacea for preventing the virus that causes the disease.
“Our members are very excited at the possibility of having a vaccine that will protect our herd from this disease,” Dickson said. “But that doesn’t mean we can relax our biosecurity. What it does is provide an additional line of defence, it doesn’t mean we can give up worrying about border crossings and trailers or stop worrying about assembly yards.” Making sure that any vaccine that becomes available is effective is also important, he said, but added that even an efficacy rate of 80 or 90 per cent would have a big impact when it comes to controlling the spread of the disease. “With our herd being essentially naive, this offers a significant amount of protection, even with say 10 per cent of pigs left unprotected,” Dickson said.
“You need a big pool of animals for this to spread, so the more pigs that are vaccinated successfully, the harder it will be for the disease to spread.” Using its new containment Level 3 facility, VIDO-InterVac was able to successfully demonstrate that up to 100 per cent protection could be provided using the vaccine, which relies on the spike protein, something researchers have long been convinced is what allows the virus to initiate the infection of the host pig. VIDO-InterVac’s research director, Volker Gerdts, said that about 700 sows in three commercial operations have now been vaccinated and brought back to the research centre. Piglets from these sows have now been See PED on page 6 »
DROZD: an ‘island top’ is a rare but reliable market indicator » PAGE 13