The federal government will foot half the bill for Canadian hog farmers to test and vaccinate herds against circovirus-related disease.
Christian Paradis, federal secretary of state for agriculture, on Thursday announced $25 million for a Circovirus Inoculation Program (CIP), for which hog owners or herd managers can apply.
Forms will be mailed to Canadian hog farmers as identified on industry and government lists, and farmers can also call 1-800-667-8567 to ask for an application.
Under CIP, hog owners or managers whose animals were part of a herd between March 1, 2006 and Dec. 31, 2008, can apply for funds to offset the costs of diagnostic testing. If so much as one animal tests positive for any porcine circovirus-associated diseases (PCVAD2), as certified by a veterinarian, the producer is also eligible for cash to offset vaccination costs.
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Applicants can get up to 50 per cent of their expenses covered for testing, up to $150 per test, $2,000 per fiscal year and $4,000 over the length of the program. Vaccination costs are also eligible for 50 per cent funding, up to $1 per piglet and $7 per gilt, sow and/or boar.
Testing and vaccination done between March 1, 2006 and now are eligible for retroactive payments, if a certified lab validated a positive test in the applicant’s herd and a vaccine that was licensed in Canada after March 1, 2006 was prescribed for the treatment.
The maximum allowed assistance for testing and vaccination in total is $500,000 per applicant. The deadline to apply for CIP funding is December 31, 2008.
Payments will be processed within 70 days of the government receiving the completed application, AAFC said in a release.
Canadian Pork Council president Clare Schlegel noted in a release that the economic impacts of PCVAD2 on the industry have been “severe.”
PCVAD2 covers the range of diseases linked to pork circovirus 2, including post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS), respiratory illness, pneumonia, diarrhea, reproductive disorders and high mortality.
PCVAD and PMWS together are increasing in incidences across Canada, with new outbreaks seen in Western Canada, and mortality rates appear to be rising in infected herds, AAFC noted. Deaths and condemnations in Canada’s hog herd rose by four per cent between 2000 and 2006, representing about 1.75 million animals. PCVAD2 diseases pose no risk to human health, the department noted.
The CIP funding is the first phase of the $76 million, four-year funding commitment to help fight disease and “enhance prosperity and stability in the hog sector,” as announced in August.
