Farmscape for May 16, 2022

Sask Pork has launched a first of its kind antimicrobial use bench marking project for Saskatchewan’s pork sector.
The Saskatchewan Pork Development Board, in partnership with the Agriculture Development Fund, has launched a benchmarking project that will look at antibiotic use on Saskatchewan hog farms over the next three years.
Ravneet Kaur, the Manager of Producer Services and on-farm food safety programs with Sask Pork, explains types and quantities of antimicrobials purchased by farms, including prescriptions, receipts and farm records will be examined.

Clip-Ravneet Kaur-Saskatchewan Pork Development Board:
Antimicrobial resistance associated with antimicrobial usage in food producing animals has emerged as a major public health concern.
Over the past few years Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba Pork have already undertaken different versions of antimicrobial usage projects with similar data entry analysis systems but there hasn't been any study or project undertaken in Saskatchewan that has quantified or tracked antimicrobial usage in hog barns in the province, so this would be the first project that would so.
Given that other provinces are already ahead or far along in their respective projects, it was imperative that a study is initiated in the province of Saskatchewan as well.
Basically, the main objectives are evaluating current antibiotic usage on Saskatchewan swine farms, also comparing usage over time with other producers in Saskatchewan as well as across Canada and then creating awareness and facilitating conversation among producers, veterinarians and others in the industry to identify and evaluate their current management practices.

Kaur says information generated through this project will help develop provincial antimicrobial use policies, will educate and create awareness about antibiotic use on farms and create platforms for future discussion on usage.
She says the information will be shared with participating producers and farm veterinarians and will be shared with producers and other stakeholders through various producer meetings.
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Bruce Cochrane.

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