Saskatchewan issues new animal health control order for poultry

Apr 19, 2022

With the increased risk of avian influenza, Saskatchewan's Chief Veterinary Officer has issued a new animal health control order limiting the co-mingling of poultry.

The order prohibits the movement to and participation of birds in shows, auctions and agricultural fairs, as well as any other events where birds would be brought together from multiple locations.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza has been found in wild birds migrating back to Canada.

The first case of the disease, in Saskatchewan, was found in a snow goose earlier this month near Elrose.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has now confirmed the presence of avian influenza in two poultry flocks in Saskatchewan, one in the R-M of Moose Mountain, and one in the R-M of Loreburn.

Poultry producers and small flock owners are reminded to follow all necessary biosecurity protocols to protect their flocks from the disease by keeping wild birds away from poultry flocks, their food and water supply, limiting visitors and monitoring bird health.

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Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”