Eric Olson is a Farm Management Consultant working out of the MNP office in Winnipeg, MB. He told producers at the 2020 Manitoba Swine Seminar in Winnipeg, MB, there are several reasons why producers should have a disaster plan in place as it pertains to a disease outbreak.
The first one has to do with understanding what is going on because it would mean many decisions coming at them quickly. It would be challenging to plan those decisions in real-time.
“I think you need to have sat back, thought about it, came up with some strategies ahead of time so that you can make those decisions quickly,” Olson said. “It’s important to plan the financing talk to your financial institutions because, at some point, you will need some support from some outside cash.”
It would be important to have an approved plan with the financial institution he deals with, to give peace of mind.
Olson was referring to something that hopefully would never happen like an outbreak of African Swine Fever. Manitoba would want to have an industry after that, but it would take some serious planning by producers and the industry on how to survive such an outbreak.
If ASF affected Manitoba, the first thing that would happen is the farms with the infected animals would go into immediate quarantine and destroyed, and those farms cleaned.
He said it would also affect every other producer in the country for 30 days because ASF is what they call a reportable disease. So, the borders close and no one can export.
The two big packers Maple Leaf and HyLife, have no market for all the hogs on every farm. Nothing moves for 30 days while they try to get a handle on the situation. Hopefully, zoning comes into place, so the rest of Canada could start shipping once again.
Olson, by zoning means, should this infected farm be in eastern Manitoba after one month, and there are no cases outside that zone. The rest of the world recognizes that zone because Manitoba is doing something about it.
“By quarantining the region, the world will allow Canada to go back into normal operations,” he said. “The time it takes for that is the issue – We’re estimating a year in talking to industry people that are negotiating like Manitoba Pork, these are guesses, and we’re hoping we can work that out.”
The whole industry stops for a year and deals with the animals because the hog business is a just-in-time business, and the pigs have nowhere to go. There’s no more room in the barns. So, we need to figure out a strategy, how are we going to cull those animals.
With biosecurity already such a big deal and it is said Olson, the planning for this event that hopefully never happens, a Black Swan event.
“When you asked about the biosecurity, we bang our chest with our clients all the time about biosecurity. It’s the most important thing you can do on the farm to prevent PED or any of these diseases. And it’s not easy. People think it’s easy. It’s hard work, because showering in and showering out, taking your boots off, and you always have to think about biosecurity,” he said.
“As a farm consultant, I visit farms, and I don’t go into barns anymore, because I don’t want to be responsible for that, and I want our clients to have healthy herds.”
Olson said when working through the plan it involves doing multiple presentations with their farm clients about biosecurity, and what things to do, and talk to the vet, and come up with those plans. •
— By Harry Siemens