The Manitoba Pork Council is hoping to get the final few southeastern hog producers signed on to the first line of defence against PEDv.

About 79 per cent of those producers have signed on with the council’s Manitoba Co-ordinated Disease Response program (MCDR). The online information-sharing platform includes information on biosecurity, manure spreading and outbreak status, including the location of infected premises.

Producers can access the platform’s information after signing a confidentiality agreement.

“They provide their information to the platform as well,” the council’s manager of swine health programs, Jenelle Hamblin, said. “It’s definitely been a beneficial tool to quickly get disease information out to producers who are currently fighting the virus.”

The program was launched in 2017 during a major outbreak. The council eventually expanded the program from the southeast, the current hotbed for the virus, to the rest of the province in the hopes of improving general disease response outside of PEDv.

As of June 21, about 53 per cent of all hog farmers in Manitoba were signed on with the program.

The council has seen more farmers sign on since 2019 PEDv reports began to come in, Hamblin said.

The pork council is working with herd veterinarians and Manitoba Agriculture on disease tracking, as well as promoting biosecurity and engaging with service providers (one infection vector identified in 2017) as this year’s outbreak continues.

“Each premise needs to work with its herd veterinarian, being that each premise is a little bit different and works in a different way,” Hamblin said.