Pig farmers urged to review biosecurity
Pig producers have been warned to protect herds from devastating diseases.
Pig farmers have been warned to review their biosecurity to protect herds from devastating diseases such as African Swine Fever (ASF) and Porcine Epidemic Diarrhoea (PED) virus.
BPEX has issued the warning as both diseases have been confirmed in new countries this week. ASF was confirmed in wild boar within the EU in Lithuania, while the virulent strain of PED virus in the US has reportedly crossed the border to Canada.
According to BPEX, ASF poses a particular threat to the UK as a "considerable number" of pig farm workers travel to and from Eastern Europe and the disease can be transported via affected pig meat products. Producers can order "Don't bring it home" posters from BPEX to alert staff to these risks.
The organisation says key points for good biosecurity include:
Isolating pigs on arrival at the unit
Limiting access to people and vehicles
Thorough cleaning of livestock lorries
Arranging an off-site collection point for deadstock collection vehicles.
In addition, BPEX says producers should ensure pigs have no access to meat products to products which may have come into contact with meat.
Information can be found on what the UK would do if ASF arrived in the country is available on Defra's website.
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
