Smaller U.S. swine herd likely as Prop 12 takes effect, think tank says 

Canadian pork sector concerned the animal welfare law will act as a non-tariff trade barrier 

The cost of compliance with a California animal welfare law, which takes full effect on New Year’s Day, will likely shrink the U.S. national hog herd and lead to further consolidation, a Washington State think tank says. “No one will be spared the change in market pressures,” wrote Pam Lewison, director for the Washington Policy […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Manitoba hog yard cleared for U.S. export

Separate export certificate had been required for yard's cull sows

U.S. authorities have lifted an order that required sows from one Manitoba assembly yard to be certified free of Seneca Valley virus before crossing the border.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture confirmed Canada in the second-last week of November had now met protocol conditions for Seneca Valley virus and has lifted the health certificate requirement, […] Read more

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ASF compartmentalization moves a step forward

Plan not an attempt to download responsibilities, CFIA says

Canada is one step closer to a compartmentalizing regime that hog farmers and the rest of the industry hope protects them against market impacts of African swine fever. Practical application can be developed now that the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has released its National Standards and National Framework for the Canadian ASF Compartment Program. From […] Read more


File photo of a wild boar crossing a road in Sweden. (Ockra/iStock/Getty Images)

Swine fever detected in Sweden for first time

Recent outbreak in Balkans spurred culls

Stockholm | Reuters — A dead wild boar in Sweden has tested positive for African swine fever, Sweden’s Veterinary Institute said on Wednesday, the first such case in the country. African swine fever is harmless to humans but is highly contagious and deadly in domestic pigs and wild boars. It has spread from Africa to […] Read more

Robert Stwalley, a clinical associate professor in Purdue University’s department of agricultural and biological engineering, shows the hog cooling pad technology IHT has now licensed to make and sell in North America. (Photo: Tom Campbell/Purdue Agricultural Communication via Canada NewsWire)

Farrowing heat pad firm to bring hog cooling pads to market

Manitoba's IHT to offer new system next spring

A Winnipeg-area company providing heating pad and lighting systems for hog barns is set to add a U.S.-developed line of hog cooling pads to its product lineup. IHT (Innovative Heating Technologies) Group announced Thursday it will make and sell a line of water-cooled pads that use a patented system designed at Purdue University in Indiana, […] Read more

pigs

Three-in-one swine vaccine hard to make

The manufacturers of a trivalent vaccine aimed at the hog sector faced a number of challenges

Glacier FarmMedia – Multiple studies examining the ability of Merck Animal Health’s Circumvent CML vaccine to control porcine circovirus, mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and lawsonia intracellularis in hogs were required to prove the new combination works and is safe. It might sound easy to take three vaccines, mix them up and stick them in a bottle. It’s […] Read more


(Songqiuju/iStock/Getty Images)

Vietnam approves commercial use of first African swine fever vaccines

U.S. Agriculture Secretary says farmers may purchase as precaution despite no domestic cases

Hanoi | Reuters – Vietnam has approved the domestic commercial use of two home-grown vaccines against African swine fever, the government said on Monday, making them the world’s first commercial vaccines against the deadly disease. The vaccines include NAVET-ASFVAC, co-developed by Navetco Central Veterinary Medicine and scientists from the United States, and AVAC ASF LIVE […] Read more

CME April 2023 lean hogs with 20- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hogs, most live cattle lower

Feeder cattle futures also down

Chicago lean hog and cattle futures closed mainly lower Thursday with the exception of front-month February live cattle, which remained on its record-setting upward slope. CME February live cattle finished up 0.225 cent at 162.775 cents/lb., extending the nearly-eight-year high on a continuous chart of the front contract (all figures US$). Most actively-traded April live […] Read more