HELENA, Mont. (NMB) – The Montana Department of Livestock has announced three educational meetings to help pork producers better prepare for a disease outbreak, such as African Swine Fever. A press release says that the meetings will focus on the ways producers can continue business amidst restrictions placed on animal movement to control the spread of a disease.
Recently, several regions throughout the world have become affected by ASF in wild and domestic pig populations including countries in Asia and Europe. ASF is an extremely contagious virus causing significant illness that is fatal to pigs, for which there is no vaccine. ASF does not affect people and is not a food safety concern.
An outbreak of ASF in the U.S. would cause major economic losses due to lost markets and restrictions on movement of animals and products. To lessen the impact on Montana producers, MDOL will be introducing a program at the meetings called Secure Pork Supply. Producers will learn about animal traceability, biosecurity, records management, and disease surveillance.
At each meeting, MDOL will walk through the Secure Pork Supply requirements and discuss available resources with producers and meeting attendees. Two meetings will be at the Fine Arts Building at Montana Expo Park in Great Falls on Tuesday, June 25th and on Tuesday, July 9th. The third meeting will be at the Lewistown Elks Club on Tuesday, July 30th. Each meeting will run from 9:30 AM to noon.
